The Daily Five: "Rethink Iowa"

1.Republicans gather in Johnson, Iowa for the Des Moines Register debate....Democrats travel to Des Moines for Thursday's debate.... Iowa Gov. Chet Culver (D) announces plan to use Iowa caucuses to convince Americans to "rethink Iowa," come visit here, come spend money here, and ultimately come move here. Iowa, for example, features "more nine-hole golf courses than any state in the nation."

2. Fred Thompson gets the endorsement of legendary conservative activist Morton Blackwell.........EnglishFirst group asks Huckabee six questions, including:"In 2006, Congressman Steve King (R-Iowa) led an effort to eliminate mandatory multilingual ballots. Do you believe American elections should be conducted in English?".....Huckabee agrees to meet with the family of AIDS victim Ryan White....

3. Bill Richardson's campaign promises a "sharp contrast" with Democratic rivals on job creation during a Sioux City, Iowa speech tomorrow.....Poet Maya Angelou records radio ads for Hillary Clinton in South Carolina......

4. What to do on a snowy day? Break your car from ice chamber, cancel your campaign events, and, if you're Mike Huckabee, get the founder of the Minutemen Civil Defense League, Jim Gilchrist, to endorse you. And then get yourself a long-overdue haircut.

5. WhyTuesday, a pro-election reform group, will arrive at tomorrow's Des Moines Register debate in a horse-drawn carriage. Question: will the horses enjoy the frigid temperatures and the six inches of accumulated snow and slush?.... and the ONE Campaign begins $1.6M -- that's the right figure -- television ad buy focusing on AIDS and poverty......

Comments

The Washington Post national primary poll was just released and it has Clinton up 30% and breaking 50% again. Strange, and probably too big a lead. National polls don't matter anymore, but trendlines do... And this could indicate that Clinton might have found her voice again.

Posted by Daniel | December 11, 2007 5:43 PM

"The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of the Iowa caucus finds Huckabee with 39% of the vote, Romney with 23% support, and everyone else in single digits." That was December 10, AFTER all the extremely strong media attacks on Huckabee. And he's leading in South Carolina and doing well in Michigan. I still think the Iowa race is very close, but its a two-man race.

Posted by iowa | December 11, 2007 7:09 PM

Be interesting to see what kind of effect the new Romney attack ad has on Huckabee's support. Will voters like his record once they actually see what it is?

http://political-buzz.com/

Posted by matt | December 11, 2007 8:07 PM

Hi, good points, but on your point #4, Wayne Gilchrest is a Republican Congressman from Maryland who votes consistently with Dems on funding the war in Iraq & hence is being challenged in the 2008 election. The head of the Minutemen is Jim Gilchrest. Jim. Not Wayne.

Posted by imneverwrong | December 11, 2007 9:29 PM

I saw the ad several times and I still think Mike Huckabee would be a better President then Romney. Everybody is talking about Huckabee's record but where is the examination of Romney's record? Conservatives should look at Romney's record as Gov:
you should read this:
http://www.massresistance.org/docs/marriage/romney/record/

"Romney Balances Budget with $500 Million in New Fees
"His first budget, presented under a cloud of a $2 billion deficit, balanced the budget with some spending cuts, but a $500 million increase in various fees was the largest component of the budget fix." Cato Institute annual Fiscal Policy Report Card - America's Governors, 2004. Romney was rated a "C" overall by Cato. "

Posted by guy | December 12, 2007 1:17 AM

Fred is going to make a last minute surge in Iowa. I predict there is a tight 3 way race around 20-22%, and Fred is right there.

Posted by MikeKS | December 12, 2007 7:38 PM

I keep coming back to: "Rethink Iowa." Is holding a caucus in Iowa, nearly one year out from the Presidential election, really such a good idea? Or for that matter: what "expertise" do New Hampshire voters possess? Why do we care about these two states, really?

A prediction: regardless of who wins the big prize, Dem or Repub, the entire primary system is in for a big overhaul before 2012. In this era of instant communication, we've no need to meet in Des Moines living rooms or listen to yet another insufferable NH voter who whines he/she has not made up their mind "'cause I've only met X twice so far."

Sheesh.

Posted by Denny | December 12, 2007 11:08 PM

I certainly agree that we should "rethink Iowa." It doesn't make much sense to me that so much importance is placed on the low-turnout caucuses in a single state. Not only that, but Iowa gets two bites at the apple on the Republican side, what with the Ames straw poll that serves as the biggest event of the year before the election.

I am sure Iowa is a nice state, but there are other nice states that could do just as good a job at being the focus of the presidential campaign.

Posted by Joshua | December 13, 2007 12:48 AM