The Rathje Report

Steve Rathje's U.S. Senate campaign website is up and running. Steve is an interesting guy and the website is well worth the visit. Steve is also the only Republican in the field against the archtype of liberalism gone bad.

This is no endorsement, 'cause I don't think SCC types shold endorse in most primaries, and we might have a primary, but history seems to indicate that we won't beat Harkin running a status quo campaign. Don't you all think we need to start bleeding Harkin a little right now? Why wait until Bahama Tommy is twenty points up in October of '08 to expose the Real Harkin-a uniquely disingenuous and destructive socialist. Not a Real socialist of course, his millionaire lifestyle belies any genuine belief in egalitarianism, more like the 60s radical turned grey. Aging but still at war with America and our friends abroad; still determined to create that government big enough to give everyone everything the enlightened think you should have, while still big enough to take from you everything you have.

So Steve, how about a radio ad reminding all of Iowa's hunters that Tom Harkin wants to sink their guns in the ocean or maybe you target Tom's support of Castro, Chavez and Daniel Ortega just for starters. We can get to the serious stuff later.

CPAC-Iowa Update

The Real Sporer was unable to attend this year’s CPAC so I took a page from the old Krusty playbook and had correspondents on site to provide an update to interested Iowans.

The Conference was, itself, a huge national success, as I’m sure many loyal readers saw on the weekend cable shows. CPAC had 1705 straw poll participants. Mitt Romney lead the field with 21%. Rudy Giuliani-17%; Sam Brownback-15%; Newt Gingrich 14% and John McCain-12% rounded out the top five. The results alone prove how close our horse race truly is.

The conference was a big success for Iowa as well. Our state E.D., Chuck Laudner was on hand to help sell the Straw Poll and fortify first in the nation status. By all accounts he found a welcome marketplace. Chuck reports that the “most striking thing was the upbeat atmosphere. Nobody wanted to dwell on the losses and everybody wanted to focus on winning in ‘08” as the prevalent mood of the conference. This is a key road marker because fighting over '06 only helps the Democrats.

Chuck and several other attendees reported substantial interest in the straw poll. No doubt. Given the media coverage of the 1705 voters in the CPAC poll, and the 776 voters who gave John McCain a two vote win over Rudy in the Spartanburg S.C. poll (a great event I think, although we didn't have a correspondent on site at that one) can you imagine the impact that 25,000-35,000 voters at the Iowa Straw Poll will have on the national campaign? The Straw Poll will hit Iowa at the same time as the State Fair and stock car Nationals in Knoxville making Iowa a vast political battlefield in early August. Everyone with whom I've spoken felt the CPAC attendees were highly aware of the magnitude of this opportunity and the significance of the challenge for both the contestants and the hosts come August.

Chuck L gets the Calvin Coolidge Award for Outstanding Economy of Expression. When asked by RNC Treasurer, Tim Morgan of California why Iowa should have the first in the nation primary status, like the true Hawkeye his is, Chuck asked “Why do they play the Rose Bowl in California?” Well said! Silent Cal is smiling today.

Do any other attendees have other thoughts that can be expressed without the necessity of subsequent rehab?