Posted on 06/17/2012 11:46:24 AM PDT by Clintonfatigued
In every calculation of how the candidates get to 270 electoral votes, Iowa is listed as a battleground state. But it's also a swing state. States like Pennsylvania and North Carolina will be contested by both sides, but the competition there will be more about turning out each party’s base and topping those operations with success among the small number of swing voters. Winning in Iowa will be about courting the large number of moderate voters who are up for grabs. There are more registered independents in the state than registered Republicans or Democrats. Ten percent said they were up in the air, according to a recent NBC/Marist poll that had Romney and Obama tied at 44 percent.
At this stage in the campaign, the Des Moines and Cedar Rapids media markets have been some of the most saturated in the nation with political advertisements. The state is so close that both sides even use the same language to talk about it. "It started here and it ends here," says Sue Dvorsky, the chairwoman of the Democratic Party explaining why Obama will win. In an interview I did this week for CBS's Face to Face, Republican Gov. Terry Brandstad said, "We're the state that launched Obama but I think in this election we're the state that's going to sink him."
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Iowa is a tossup at this time. Obama’s universe-size deficits and support for gay marraige has cost him a lot of points there.
Ron Paul won 21 of the 25 delegates in Iowa last night.
http://www.ronpaul2012.com/2012/06/17/ron-paul-wins-iowa/
On the other hand, Iowa’s farm economy has been booming and the League of Women Voters and others have been registering Iowa’s large population of illegals to vote.
Paultards have indeed taken over the Iowa GOP, and they won’t be pulling very enthusiastically for Romney.
i HAVE A FEELING THAT THIS IS ALREADY TAKEN CARE OF WITH EAUTHER A PRIME TIME CONVENTION SPEACK=H O=FOR rON pAUL, OR A VP SLOT FOR RAND PAUL.
From someone who was born and raised in Iowa, let me give a little insight into this very confusing political midwest state. Sorry if I babble in this post, but it is something I have been passionate about for many years.
Iowa has a very disproportionate amount of state employees. The cities where there are the most state employees (Des Moines, Iowa City, Ames, and Cedar Falls) elect far-left Alinskyite pseudo-intellectuals to all forms of government posts. Iowa City is economically thriving right now, even in this deep recession, just because they get unlimited funds from the state for the huge U of I hospital and the university. The industrial centers of Eastern Iowa (Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, Dubuque, Davenport) elect the same type of people, because the union Democrats will will always for for someone with a “D” after their name on the ballot, even though those candidates are pro-gay, anti-military, pro-affirmative action, etc. (Iowa is still about 94% white). I have talked to several union members in Iowa who are against most of the social and some of the fiscal liberal policies of these leftists in Iowa, but they still vote for them. Chalk that up to brainwashing for years from their family members and union leadership.
If you ever visit Iowa, and you go to the rural ares, the small towns, the booming suburbs of Des Moines, and even in spots of the urban areas, you will see people that resemble the heartland of America and conservative philosophy (the left call them gun-toting, bible-thumping, pro-life, homophobic bigots). However, they vote in the state legislature, and county and local governments, for the most far left radical politicians you will see in this country. As someone who has lived in this state for over 50 years, Iowa still confuses me.
Economic development, and getting people to live in Iowa over the past 60 years has been almost impossible. The state boomed in population in the late 1800’s and first 30 years of the 1900’s with agricultural and industrial revolutions, but Iowa had by far the lowest population increases in America in the late 1900’s. There are no mountains, no oceans, less than a dozen “real” lakes; four months out of the year it resembles the arctic circle, and the summers are like oppressive saunas thats good for growing crops, but terrible for outdoor activities. In other states that have beautiful terrain and weather, you can afford to elect idiots (sometimes) because people still want to move to these places. But Iowa can’t afford to elect idiots to office, and over the last 60 years, Iowa has.
I work in Davenport in a union plant. Not a single union member I have talked to is voting for Obama. They all have turned against him.
It’s time to get rid of caucuses.
If nothing else, his followers should know how to play the system to their advantage by now.
For instance, at my precinct caucus, the fact that Romney and Santorum placed first and second in the popular vote didn't mean squat. You'd think the candidates would be organized enough to know that they should want to make sure their delegates go to the county convention (the next level). Or, one might assume the state GOP, like the Dems, would prescribe a process for the precinct caucuses to nominate and vote for convention delegates. After all, the vote for candidates is nothing more than a meaningless, non-binding straw poll; the real purpose of the precinct caucuses is to send delegates (and meaningless platform planks ;) to the county, district and, ultimately, the state conventions!
But, no. Our caucus—like many others, no doubt—was all about the straw poll; our convention seats were available to anyone willing to pay the price of admission ($50-75 maybe?). In fact, there was so little interest that the county GOP faithful phoned caucus-goers over the next few days hoping to find takers.
Perhaps that's a common enough scenario statewide that the Paul campaign knew enough to take advantage of the others' ignorance.
The amazing thing to me is that Romney has so little respect for grass-roots that he didn’t bother to organize, and that even the Romney sheep had so little enthusiasm they couldn’t be bothered to follow through.
Santorum supporters were apparently just ‘straw-vote-and-go’. Pathetic.
Why? Unlike primaries, caucuses provide the average citizen the opportunity to get involved, all the way to the national convention if they wish.
Instead, perhaps it's time for candidates to get a clue (or care) about how the caucuses work. It's actually quite simple. Apparently, the Paul people did what the others didn't.
Or, maybe it's time for the Iowa GOP to tell the precincts how to go about choosing their convention delegates, rather than leaving it wide open for the taking.
Pathetic, yes, in that apparently, the Santorum campaign failed to include or listen to anyone knowledgeable about the system.
Either that or, they decided the 25 convention delegates weren't worth the effort.
Cause caucuses are convoluted nonsense where candidates that lost the vote can manipulate their way into delegates and the average voter has difficulty understanding.
If I had my way they would all be straight up closed primaries with proportional delegate allocation. It ought to be the same process in every state.
That's ridiculous. On what basis do you say that? Have you ever been to one? Our kids came with us last time and even the 10-year-old was able to follow along with the happenings.
where candidates that lost the vote can manipulate their way into delegates
Only if the winners allow them to do so.
and the average voter has difficulty understanding.
So? Today's "average voter" obviously has difficulty understanding the Constitution or, simple supply-and-demand economics. A great many of them would, due to their (willful) ignorance, be all too happy to call them "convoluted nonsense" and advocate for their replacement, too.
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