Iowa Caucus running thread

[Dick Whitman]

The hour is nigh.

 

[cranberry]

The vindication of Rick Santorum is upon us!

 

[Dick Whitman]

I'm happy this day is here in the same way that I'm happy when opening day arrives in any sport. At some point, you want some games instead of just previews and predictions. I imagine that the political press feels the same way we do after training camp. If training camp were 18 months long.

 

[Dick Whitman]

It's odd how much Santorum plays up the fact that he homeschooled his children. That's a real badge of honor, I take it, among the base.

I have always kind of bought into the stereotype of homeschooled kids as socially inept and ill-equipped for the world. I'm a big supporter of public education, so I have a dog in the fight. The other day, though, I met my wife's second cousins, both homeschooled (their mom went to Northwestern, so she's no sheltered shut-in fundie). The girl is 20 and a senior at a college in Manhattan that she says is located in the Empire State Bulding (can't recall the name). She carries herself like she's 30. The boy is 16 or 17 and looking at small, conservative colleges right now where he can play baseball. He's 16 going on 26.

Anyway, that's a digression, and I'm still not a huge fan of homeschooling. But it's always odd when your world gets thrown for a loop a little bit.

Back to Iowa.

 

[cranberry]

The idea that a smattering of ideologically skewed Iowans can play such a large role in selecting or eliminating a presidential candidate is disturbing. Gail Collins made the point last week that these clowns should be ignored:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/29/opinion/feel-free-to-ignore-iowa.html?_r=1

Of course, the reality is that it's an important part of the media echo chamber, so it takes on a life of its own.

 

[TigerVols]

I love the fact that the campaigns seem to be spinning out of control, with the lesser candidates (i.e., everyone but Willard) hurling insults and accusations at each other.

Their true colors, exposed.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

We'll all have the people of Iowa to thank for Rick Santorum and Ron Paul living to fight another day...

I think the people in Iowa get off on giving life to candidates that are being ignored by the majority of the rest of the country. They did that for Huckabee in 2008. Steve Forbes and Pat Buchanan have done well there in the past. I think Pat Robertson finished ahead of Bush I in 1988.

 

[cranberry]

This is what I've had in mind when I post something about Republicans needing to not become synonymous with the Tea Party:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/will-the-nominee-shape-the-gop-or-will-the-gop-shape-the-nominee/2012/01/02/gIQAeuM5WP_story.html

But Republicans could see their opening slip away if the nominee is bound too tightly to an unpopular congressional wing of the party that has become the face of the GOP over the past 12 months. The Economist magazine recently summed up the Republican dilemma, saying that at a time when many independent voters may be looking for a solid center-right platform, the Republican Party “is saddling its candidate with a set of ideas that are cranky, extreme and backward-looking.”

Too late. GOP=Tea Party=Gridlocked Congress for this election cycle. The grown-ups in the party should have stood up to these idiots instead of pandering to them.

 

[trifectarich]

The only thing more overblown than the Iowa Caucus is the quarterback for the Denver Broncos.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

The only thing more overblown than the Iowa Caucus is the quarterback for the Denver Broncos.

I will never understand why they do it in this order. It would seem to make much more sense to have the first three primaries be in states that year in and year out need to be carried to win an election. States like Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Indiana, Pennsylvania...

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

The only thing more overblown than the Iowa Caucus is the quarterback for the Denver Broncos.

^^^^ This...

Since 1976, only two candidates who won the Iowa Caucus for their parties ever became the President of the United States.

 

[MileHigh]

Break it up into four regions of the country and have one region on the second Tuesday in January, February, March and April and switch up the rotation every four years.

This thing is silly.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Break it up into four regions of the country and have one region on the second Tuesday in January, February, March and April and switch up the rotation every four years.

This thing is silly.

Agree completely. That would be the perfect way to do it.

We wouldn't get to watch candidates ***** themselves out to a handful of evangelicals for almost six months straight, but we'd have to get over that...

 

[Flying Headbutt]

The Santorum home school story isn't without dirt, either. He charged his "home" school district in Pa. hundreds of thousands of dollars for this Internet school while his kids were growing up in Virginia while he was in office. It was really scuzzy when this first came out. Sadly, a cursory glance on Google only turns up partisan and questionable links. But it was a mainstream story in Pa. when it first came out.

 

[deskslave]

This is what I've had in mind when I post something about Republicans needing to not become synonymous with the Tea Party:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/will-the-nominee-shape-the-gop-or-will-the-gop-shape-the-nominee/2012/01/02/gIQAeuM5WP_story.html

But Republicans could see their opening slip away if the nominee is bound too tightly to an unpopular congressional wing of the party that has become the face of the GOP over the past 12 months. The Economist magazine recently summed up the Republican dilemma, saying that at a time when many independent voters may be looking for a solid center-right platform, the Republican Party “is saddling its candidate with a set of ideas that are cranky, extreme and backward-looking.”

A point made in The Guardian last week (and if you're not reading The Guardian's U.S. election coverage, I do recommend it*): Because Obama has governed essentially as you would expect from what was formerly known as a centrist Republican, the only way the current Republican Party can present itself as an actual alternative is via the hard-right nutty stuff.

It's tangentially related to something that I think a lot of true lefties have been saying for a while: They're going to call you a socialist no matter what. You might as well actually do it occasionally.

*-Unless you're a fan of the Republicans. They're not particularly kind -- but then I suspect they wouldn't be that kind if there were a Democratic primary, either.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

The Santorum home school story isn't without dirt, either. He charged his "home" school district in Pa. hundreds of thousands of dollars for this Internet school while his kids were growing up in Virginia while he was in office. It was really scuzzy when this first came out. Sadly, a cursory glance on Google only turns up partisan and questionable links. But it was a mainstream story in Pa. when it first came out.

Yuuuuup.

RS bet it all on Iowa because the GOP demographic there fits his pitch like a glove. It served him well that the rest of the righty fringe shot their wads / committed hari-kari before he stepped up to take his big swing. Have no doubt he'll breeze by the rest in that niche tonight, but it's all downhill from there -- unless the other righty/evangie swingers all decide to drop out simultaneously and fall in line with him to try to head off Romney . . . and they're having too much fun building their own brands to do that.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

We'll all have the people of Iowa to thank for Rick Santorum and Ron Paul living to fight another day...

I think the people in Iowa get off on giving life to candidates that are being ignored by the majority of the rest of the country. They did that for Huckabee in 2008. Steve Forbes and Pat Buchanan have done well there in the past. I think Pat Robertson finished ahead of Bush I in 1988.

Stevie still thinks Perry has a chance.

Yee-haw.

 

[Ben_Hecht]

The REAL fun comes when -- now that Romney, hiding behind a SuperPAC, has smeared (accurately!) Newt relentlessly in Iowa with heavy media barrages -- Romney gets it back in spades from Newt, beginning Wednesday, with steady escalation going into New Hampshire. Mitt's ObamaCare-type support and past abortion stands are going to get heavy exposure in this blitz. The blood will be flowing.

 

[Dick Whitman]

The REAL fun comes when -- now that Romney, hiding behind a SuperPAC, has smeared (accurately!) Newt relentlessly in Iowa with heavy media barrages -- Romney gets it back in spades from Newt, beginning Wednesday, with steady escalation going into New Hampshire. Mitt's ObamaCare-type support and past abortion stands are going to get heavy exposure in this blitz. The blood will be flowing.

Why didn't he do it in Iowa, where Romney was more vulnerable?

 

[Ben_Hecht]

The REAL fun comes when -- now that Romney, hiding behind a SuperPAC, has smeared (accurately!) Newt relentlessly in Iowa with heavy media barrages -- Romney gets it back in spades from Newt, beginning Wednesday, with steady escalation going into New Hampshire. Mitt's ObamaCare-type support and past abortion stands are going to get heavy exposure in this blitz. The blood will be flowing.

Why didn't he do it in Iowa, where Romney was more vulnerable?

I don't think Newt was quite prepared for the breadth and ferocity of the personal attacks in question.

It appears he is, now. We'll see.