Marc Ambinder has the results: Romney 31.5% Huckabee 18.1% Brownback 15% Tancredo in 13.7% Ron Paul with 9% The rest were single digits. My read is that social conservatives are split, and immigration is really important. The fact that Huckabee + Brownback is greater than Romney will be noticed. At Read more
C-SPAN’s coverage makes it clear that he brought lots and lots of kids to the straw poll. Sam Brownback starts with tying together families with terrorism. Huckabee did that in his own way. He really talks about abortion differently than the others. He talked about "reviving the economy." Republicans don’t Read more
Mike Huckabee gets a nice intro from Laura Ingraham. Give America back to the people on Main Street. This is an important undercurrent to the language Sams Club Republican thing. Is that really what Huckabee is? Michael Vick joke was cute "I’m not the best funded candidate. I don’t have Read more
For some good straw poll blogging, I recommend Marc Ambinder, The Fix, and Cyclone Conservative. Well, first Newt started by pandering to the anti-immigration forces. Wasn’t he an open borders guy back in the day? Wasn’t he a hero of guest worker programs? Mitt Romney started by confusing green beans Read more
Earlier today, I said: Jonathan Martin is reporting that Sam Brownback, among others, has buses: An Iowa Republican said that Romney was bringing about 125 onto the campus of Iowa State University and Brownback just over 100. Tommy Thompson is bringing the third most, about 75. What I don’t understand Read more
The Politico’s Roger Simon is reporting that Mike Huckabee has no buses: Mike Huckabee does not have buses. Huckabee needs to get people to the straw poll in Ames this Saturday and even if he had the money for buses — which he doesn’t — there are no buses left Read more
At least the weather will be better. But that’s what the WSJ is telling us: South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Katon Dawson will join with New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner tomorrow morning to announce that both states are moving up their presidential primary dates earlier into January, according Read more
I was at a family reunion this weekend. While the debate was showing, I was on the way to attend Stonewall Wesleyan Church in Lexington, KY, where my dad’s family attended church when he was growing up. I didn’t really see any news, other than the local paper, until I Read more
An Iowa County Chair who is on retainer from the Romney campaign bans other candidates from speaking to his organization. That is shocking. Is that they way you want your government run?
For the critical week of recruiting before the Ames straw poll, The Club for Growth is attacking Mike Huckabee. They have details here. I think that this is going to hurt a lot. People who are still undecided and just show up are going to see this. And, like all Read more