Local legislation, national implication

There are now two pieces of legislation that are going through the legislative process in early primary states. In South Carolina, there is an abortion-related bill that requires that doctors review ultrasounds with a mother before an abortion. In New Hampshire, the House just passed a civil-unions bill. This matters Read more…

More also-raised

Duncan Hunter is also at $500,000. That’s pretty sad, considering his role in leadership. Jim Gilmore is at $200,000, probably. Again, this merely confirms that there are three tiers, the big three, Sam Brownback, and the rest. Unless something drastic happens, Brownback is the only one who is in a Read more…

Interesting new IA poll: They don’t like Iraq

Strategic Vision just released a poll of Iowa caucus-goers. I don’t want to focus on the horse-race numbers because it is so hard to do a likely voter screen in Iowa (nonetheless, they are after the jump, and we will let you debate whether or not Romney’s single-digits are still real). However there are some interesting things that are worth noting:

First Iraq:

4. Do you favor a withdrawal of all United States military from Iraq within the next six months? (Republicans Only)
Yes 52%
No 39%
Undecided 9%

I have argued for a while that the Iowa GOP is more anti-war than other states. This would also explain Mitt Romney’s recent flip-flop on Iraq.

They also ask:

3. How important is it for the Republican presidential candidate to be a conservative Republican in the mode of Ronald Reagan, very important, somewhat important, not very important, not important, undecided? (Republicans Only)
Very Important 39%
Somewhat Important 18%
Not Very Important 14%
Not Important 13%
Undecided 16%

But this does mean different things to different people… But only 6% believe that George Bush is like Reagan, so at least they get that straight….

Horserace after the jump…
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What does all this money stuff mean?

Update: Kung Fu Quip confirms my back-of-the-envelope calculations on Romney’s fundraising. Actually, he quotes Romney confirming it. Last night, I spent a lot of time on the phone with fundraisers and campaign operatives from around the country gossiping about the fundraising numbers. Here are some thoughts that emerged. First, Romney’s Read more…

Global warming and the GOP

This post emerges from some a number of sources including some recent polls and articles that I will reference, some discussions with conservatives in other countries, and Rob Bluey’s recent blogger lunch on the topic. Let me start with a summary of where the GOP candidates are on the issue. Read more…

GOP down but Rudy and McCain up

I meant to write about this but got distracted. Dan Gerstein has, I think, the proper rebuttal to the guys at the Politico. Perhaps the GOP bad poll numbers are just about Bush? And the correction to Bush lies with a Rudy Giuliani or John McCain, wo fairly different approaches.

Chuck Todd on GOP money race

This is great stuff. I’m just going to quote: McCain: Up until last weekend, I was convinced McCain was destined for second place for the quarter. But something about the way McCain softened his financial expectations personally has me nervous that his campaign is having some fun at Mitt Romney’s Read more…

More crazy calendar stuff: WA and NV

Hotline points out that the GOP Nevada caucus might move into the window. At the same time, both parties in Washington are turning their primaries into beauty contests and selecting delegates in caucuses. Expect more states to follow this pattern. If Feb 5th does not determine the nominations, then caucuses Read more…

Running on repealing BCRA??

Now, maybe I’m crazy. But I think that this talk of Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson running on repealing BCRA is politically lunatic. In 2008, Republicans are going to be running into headwind on ethics and corruption. The VP’s Chief of Staff was just convicted of a felony. People are Read more…

The party is restless

Adam Nagourney and Megan Thee point out the obvious today in the NYT. The GOP is restless. Here are some questions that I would like to see answered (show us crosstabs!!): Who do the 57% who want more candidates support now? And what do they think of the existing candidates? Read more…