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Guest Editorial Alexander J. Madison - December 31, 2007 Dear Iowegians, Every presidential election season, your state has the opportunity to help shape the election going forward. Unfortunately, too many times, you have selected a dud during the Iowa Caucuses. In 1976, you picked Gerald Ford, proponent of the ERA and abortion rights, over a very conservative Ronald Reagan. In 1980, you chose a very moderate Bush over Reagan. And twice you picked a milquetoast named Bob Dole. Granted, the choices are sometimes between dud and duddier, but this year is different. This year you have a chance to select...

INDIANOLA, Iowa (CNN) — He may be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but Superman can’t caucus. Actor and Iowa native Brandon Routh is better-known for his role as Superman, but Sunday night he made a cameo appearance on the campaign trail, speaking on behalf of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama at a rally in Indianola, Iowa. Routh says he is "sad" that he can't caucus any more because he no longer lives in the Hawkeye State, but he says he's "excited" by Obama's ability to unite the country. He also says he likes that Obama is not...

What will be the deciding issue for Iowa GOP voters on January 3rd? According to KCCI-TV in Des Moines who commissioned a poll to find out, Iowans indicated it will be the future moral direction of the country. Northeastern Republicans and radio shows which emanate from the E-fax studios in Orange County California may despise it - but that is the number one issue on the minds of GOP voters in Iowa. The Beltway-Manhattan elite can cluck and curse all they want but the reality is the largest chunk of GOP voters in Iowa (and also much reflective of the...

Excerpt - Ice and snowstorms have closed Iowa's airports and highways in recent days, stopping even the most determined presidential candidates in their campaign tracks. But Thursday, caucus night here, the weather may be more than an annoyance. Political analysts say the atmospheric conditions could have a serious impact on how candidates fare in this first step in the nation's presidential nomination process. Right now, meteorologists are expecting a balmy (by Midwestern standards) high of 41 degrees, sunny conditions and a 10% chance of precipitation. That forecast suits Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side, and Mitt Romney on the Republican...

Mike Huckabee loves homespun tales and self-deprecating jokes. Mitt Romney basks in PowerPoint slides and statistics. Mr. Huckabee, a firefighter's son, is a Southerner born and bred. Mr. Romney, son of a CEO-turned-governor, roamed from Michigan to Massachusetts to Utah. They embody two wings of the Republican Party -- social conservatives and economic conservatives -- that sometimes sit uneasily. While John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson are competitive in national polls, all three are focusing on states after Iowa. The kickoff Jan. 3 caucus here is largely between Messrs. Romney and Huckabee. Mr. Huckabee displays his Southern Baptist religion...

http://fredfile.fred08.com/blog/2007/video-steve-king-why-i-endorsed-fred-thompson/

Iowans have a profound opportunity and a great responsibility to make the first in the nation recommendation for president to the rest of America. Of 300 million Americans, one in 100 are Iowans. Of Iowans, only about one in 15 will attend either the Democrat or the Republican caucus. Your vote in the Iowa caucus will likely have 1500 times more impact than that of the average American. This is a profound responsibility. It is our duty to determine the most important issues and set criteria for how we make our decisions. Iowans have a unique and historic opportunity to...

MANCHESTER, N.H. - Hillary Clinton predicted Saturday that just electing her President will cut the price of oil. When the world hears her commitment at her inauguration about ending American dependence on foreign fuel, Clinton says, oil-pumping countries will lower prices to stifle America's incentive to develop alternative energy. "I predict to you, the oil-producing countries will drop the price of oil," Clinton said, speaking at the Manchester YWCA. "They will once again assume, once the cost pressure is off, Americans and our political process will recede."

(DES MOINES, IOWA) A middle-age Iowa voter has filed a $12 million lawsuit against both Hillary and Bill Clinton for mental whiplash. According to papers filed yesterday in Iowa’s Supreme Court, Andrew Wynehart of Spring Hill, Iowa, has asked that the Clintons compensate him for lost wages, medical bills and emotional distress as a result of a series of mental injuries sustained repeatedly over the last six weeks. These injuries, termed “mental whiplash,” have been defined by Wynehart’s lawyers as, “the coherent, unexpected misdirection of the brain leading to cranial blur.” Wynehart has submitted two MRIs as evidence taken before...

INDIANOLA, Iowa -- At a campaign event Monday, Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson rejected the idea of allowing illegal immigrants to earn U.S. citizenship through military service. Anna Castaner, an Indianola resident, posed the question to Thompson during an event inside a coffee shop. Thompson drew applause from the crowd when he said he wouldn't support it. "They need to go back and abide by the law," Thompson said. The former U.S. senator from Tennessee said the country could have "enforcement by attrition." He called for securing the American border and stopping so-called sanctuary cities from blocking the enforcement of...

MOUNT PLEASANT -- Conservative and credible. Those were the double-barrel credentials former U.S. senator and current Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson emphasized Sunday evening. Thompson spoke to around 100 people at a Veterans Day meet-and-greet at the Mount Pleasant Moose Lodge that followed a similar event in Burlington, which drew a slightly larger crowd. To his Mount Pleasant audience, Thompson painted a picture of a GOP facing trouble in 2008, with control of the White House in doubt, 21 senators facing re-election (compared to just 12 for Democrats) and many moderate voters swinging to the other side. "I don't mean...

Burlington, Ia. — Republican Fred Thompson told potential supporters on Sunday that he’s running for president as a champion of ideals held by all Americans: a strong national defense, adherence to the rule of law and a market economy. “And immigration laws that actually work,” Thompson said at the outset. “That’s not just a Republican idea, I don’t think.” Speaking at Big Muddy’s restaurant in Burlington, the former Tennessee senator said he would be able to secure the votes of independents in a general election. Thompson criticized what he called Democrats’ insistence on infusing government into everything. “Would you trust...

The first Rasmussen Reports poll of the Iowa Republican Caucus for 2008 finds former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney enjoying a six-point lead while former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee are virtually tied for second. Romney attracts 25% of the vote from Likely Caucus Participants, Thompson earns 19%, and Huckabee is at 18% in the poll. National frontrunner and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is the only other Republican in double digits at 13%. Arizona Senator John McCain, once considered by some to be the GOP frontrunner, gets just 6% of the vote. Kansas...

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Though America got where it is today by following a pattern of freedom and prosperity followed, Americans at a present political crossroads may be in danger of choosing instead a path that leads to inevitable demise, said Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson Monday in Marshalltown. Thompson, however, advocated adhering to the country’s foundational principles and doing what is right. “How often, when you do the right thing, it turns out to be good politics too?” he said to a full room at the Tremont on Main. At the core of his campaign, Thompson said he stands behind a federalism based...

In South Carolina’s Republican Presidential Primary, the latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds Fred Thompson leading Rudy Giuliani 24% to 20%. That’s little changed from a month ago when Thompson held a 23% to 21% advantage. Mitt Romney has moved into third place and is now supported by 15% of South Carolina’s Likely Primary Voters while John McCain is barely in double digits at 11% support. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee earns 3% of the South Carolina vote while four other candidates split 5% and 22% are undecided. Sixty-three percent (63%) of the state’s Republican Primary voters say that Giuliani...

Candidate Says U.S. Must Return To Basics. Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson said Thursday that he's ready to work hard in Iowa to make up for lost time. Thompson was in Des Moines a day after announcing his White House run. He said he still has enough time to get out his message. "The preliminaries are over, the game is beginning as far as I'm concerned and I'm looking forward to it," he said. He said he skipped the debates in an effort to reach more people. "I want to reach them as directly as I...

Mitt Romney walked away with the top spot at the Ames Straw Poll held on the campus of Iowa State University. The win boosted the former Massachusetts governor’s standing as the party’s frontrunner in Iowa, although attendance at this first show of Iowa campaign strength appeared to fall short of expectations. Romney, who heavily outspent his opponents preparing for the fundraising event, received 4,516 votes or 31.6 percent. Roughly 30,000 to 33,000 Republicans attended the state party fundraiser on the Iowa State University campus, short of organizers’ goal of exceeding the crowd of 38,000 who attended the most recent straw...

Republican presidential candidates transformed the campus of Iowa State University into a conservative carnival Saturday, competing for votes by offering free soda and barbecue and a promise of shade for the thousands who braved the 100-degree heat to attend this year's straw poll. The activists came by the busload, more than 30,000 in all, for the first voting of the 2008 presidential campaign. But for many, casting ballots was an afterthought as they made their way past huge stages with live bands, inflatable bouncy rooms for the kids and fair-style booths touting one conservative cause after another. The Iowa Right...

(CBS/AP) In a surprisingly strong attack, GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said Republican rival Rudy Giuliani had turned New York City into a sanctuary for illegal immigrants during his two terms as mayor. Immigration is a hot-button issue in the GOP and may play especially well in Iowa, an early battleground state where the federal government has raided meat processing plants employing illegals, and where some longtime residents feel their pay is being undercut by cheaper-working immigrants. "If you look at lists compiled on Web sites of sanctuary cities, New York is at the top of the list when Mayor...