Good job ABC

Having reflected on the two debates last night I think its only fair to compliment ABC for a job well done. Gibson did the best job, and ABC provided the best format yet seen.

Unlike the CNN debates, ABC didn’t try and present a caricature of the Republicans or push the Democrats to Hillary. The questions mostly centered on big issues with the occasional personal insight query thrown in.

TRS has complained loud and long about the phony debates this year. Its time to reward a job well done.

........ and now the Democrats

Its only fair to rebut the madness we are about the hear.

In New Hampshire-let's get it on!

ABC has started the broadcast. The first image of note is Timmy Albrecht's manliest of manly miens right behind Mitt's shoulder.

More debate controversy-no Hunter and Paul, no GOP endorsement.

As many know, ABC cut Dennis the Menace Kucinich, Crazy Uncle Mike Gravel and Duncan Hunter from the two debates tonight. Kucinich already filed an FEC complaint. Not that it will do any good but even a pebble in the ocean must cause some kind of stir, however small.

Now the Granite State GOP has withdrawn its co sponsorship from tomorrow night’s Fox News debate because Congressmen Paul and Hunter will be excluded. Good for New Hampshire.
ABC and Fox are wrong to exclude the three sitting Congressmen. Mike Gravel is a different story. He is no longer a significant public figure, entitled by his position to a share of the public debate. Gravel left politics and stayed gone for a generation. He has no standing in the Democrat Party and even less with the public at large.

However, Gollum and the two Republican congressmen are a different story. Whatever one thinks of their positions, and I obviously think Dennis is pretty much out of touch with reality and I have significant difficulties with Ron Paul’s view of America in the world, Kucinich, Paul and Hunter are sitting United States Congressmen. All have received millions of votes through their many successful elections. All three are major national spokesmen for millions of people. All have stayed in the battle and earned their right to inform public opinion through the Presidential debates.

We certainly don’t need less informed public discussion in this country. Future media sponsors of the Presidential primary debates should give far greater consideration to their civic responsibilities to fully inform the public when planning this debate.

Mitt wins Wyoming.

It looks like Mitt has won the Wyoming Caucuses, held earlier today. Mitt takes 8 delegates, FDT 2 and Duncan Hunter 1. It appears the final Wyoming delegate was either uncommitted or pledged to Ron Paul.

Mitt historically campaigned in Wyoming although he was in New Hampshire today. Two of the Romney boys were campaigning in Wyoming, however. Fred made a trip or two there and Duncan Hunter campaigned there as well. I have heard conflicting reports as to Cong. Paul’s presence in Wyoming so hopefully a Paulie will post a comment and let us know if Ron campaigned in the Cowboy State.

Debate kick off is right around the corner-some live blogging fun to come later tonight.

The myth explodes-Hillary’s defeat.

Hillary’s continual attacks on Iowa and the Caucus process in the wake of her crushing defeat show how really shallow and supercilious is her campaign. For the better part of 16 years we watched the Clinton’s preposterous lies and distortions fly, usually without much critique from the poodles of truth in the national media (“I didn’t inhale”; “I never had sex with that woman, not one single time”; Serbia threatened the United States”, etc...).

On Thursday night Evita blamed the absence of people in Iraq for her loss as if the public thinks she was popular with guys and gals in uniform). Yesterday, it was the disenfranchisement of night shift workers that deprived Hill of her inevitable victory in the Iowa Caucus, which concedes our theory about her lineal descent from Vlad Tepes and the Draculesti but hardly explains a nine point Caucus loss.

Hillary also whines about Barack Hussein Obama’s home field advantage, as if she isn’t really from Illinois herself. Aside from the rich irony that Evita could have actually returned to her real home state, waited a couple of years and run for the Senate.

In fact, it is this very irony that is so indicative of the fraudulent nature of the Clinton story. Hillary had no basis other than its Democrat electorate for representing New York in the United States Senate.

Hillary’s personal accomplishments-in a Presidential context-are minimal. She was a junior lawyer for the Watergate Senate Committee, along with Fred Thompson and a host of other Ivy League lawyers. Hill’s job with the Rose Law Firm was a product of Bill’s election as Arkansas AG. Hill produced nothing of political value in her eight years as First Lady but disaster. Hill was not a player in the Clinton Administration’s foreign policy team-she didn’t even have security clearance to see the documents that her chief foreign policy adviser Berger the Burglar later stole from the National Archives. Hillary has no legislative accomplishments to show for seven years in the Senate.

The entire Clinton campaign has been the propagation of one myth after another. If her challengers would have been the drab and disinteresting, but intelligent and qualified, Delaware Joe Biden or Chris “Double Shot” Dodd, no one would have called out the foundation of myths. However, nothing sells in the MSM like a cocky, clever, and cute genuine big government liberal. Even better, every molecule of liberal guilt, racial sensitivity and political correctness is excited by Obama’s skin tone. What a chance to show they care, eh?

Like Peggy Noonan said, Hillary is the most divisive figure of the generation. Her inevitability assumed that a majority of Democrats were willing to swallow the duplicity, spread the lies and argue the idiotic every time the Clintons asked. The latest Clinton myth was Hillary’s popularity among women was so plenary that Republican women would cross over to vote for her, instead, they crossed over to vote for Obama and against Hillary. The Clintons are finally being viewed through the prism of reality.

Hillary’s defeat is proof that Abe Lincoln was right again, you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.

Caucus 08-quick takes on the Huckaboom.

Its really late and the Caucus is over. All 183 Polk precincts are reported and recorded. TRS is finally here at home and watching the coverage reruns. Here are a few reflections on the night that was:

First, thanks to Emma, Sarah, Sarah, Tim and the whole Polk County crew. These kids did a great job in a short time. We covered all 183 precincts, right down to the precincts that don’t really contain Republicans. Great job. Thank you.

Second, thanks to the people of Polk County and Iowa. Even the Ds get a little love right here. Both parties blew away attendance records. Our Polk turnout was huge. The attendance numbers certainly show that Iowan are engaged as well as informed.
Third, the national template on Huck’s win is simply strange. I’m listening to Iowa being now depicted as a kind of monolithic state in which all of the Republicans are evangelical Christians and that those of a different persuasion are somehow suppressed. There’s a word for that bovine by-product that I promised not to use so use your imagination. Huck’s support, like Mitt’s, was representative of the entire Republican demographic. Look at the map people.

Huck had more than the proverbial “half again” more votes than Mitt in Polk County, by far Iowa’s largest and most urbanized county. Mitt won only Dallas County in central Iowa, and that by only 4 votes. Mitt won virtually all of the most populous counties in the Fifth District-completely opposite of the national description of the respective candidate’s demographic base. Since “evangelicals” also voted for Mitt, Fred, to a lesser extent John McCain, and a much lesser extent Ron Paul, Rudy and everyone’s choice for SecDef, Duncan Hunter, Huckabee’s 34% has to include a broader composition than merely the “self-styled evangelicals” (to mimic the MSM refrain).

Fourth, I’m punching the people who base Mitt’s loss on the religious bigotry of Iowans. TRS encountered no one-NO ONE-who said they wouldn’t vote for Mitt because of his LDS faith. Are there a few bigots in Iowa, like everywhere else? Sure. Are they in any way significant. Most certainly not. People who float the bigot rumor insult our state and every one of the 75% of the Republican caucus voters who didn’t vote for Mitt. Its easy to create secret unexpressed reasons for a voter’s choice, just like its easy to be a 9.11 Truther.

Big congratulations are due the whole Huckabee team and special congrats to Altoona’s own Wes Enos, who put together a sufficient central Iowa organization from almost scratch in about five months. This organization produced a margin in Polk County that was larger than Mitt’s margin in Linn, Johnson, Scott, and Dubuque counties combined.

…………… and now the hard part. This race still has a long way to go-but course is changing and right now, only one runner has a victory lap under their belt.

Meanwhile, on the Democrat side…………….

………………. the Convention Center buzz is conceding an Obama win and the major dispute is over/under 5. The more interesting rumors seem to be a possible Clinton collapse to third.

Given the Clintons’ obvious descent from the familia Dracul a third place finish might be like a low dose of sunlight, not enough to kill but hot enough to maim. On the other hand it might be like a Van Helsing garlic soaked silver arrow-instant incineration. The lack of Democrat enthusiasm for her, when wed to the visceral distrust of her by NP voters and the revulsion of her by Republicans certainly seems to make her quite beatable in November.

A third place finish by Edwards is, however, death. Edwards has no fall back zone, no firewall of any kind. Edwards began campaigning in Iowa in 2001 and has never stopped. The Breck Girl has spent millions and millions of dollars and countless hours away from his dying wife and soon to be orphaned little children to pursue his hate filled agenda of class warfare, the likes of which haven‘t been seen since another millionaire Democrat, Henry Wallace of Iowa ran an openly socialist campaign in 1948.

The Dems provide no small amount of drama tonight. Stay tuned, as they say.

Go time……

…………. is upon us. In about two and half hours Iowa is going to make some history. Today has been as wild a Caucus Day as Iowa has seen and we haven’t even started voting.

Iowa is giving every candidate and every campaign something different. Hill and Bill are telling people that third accomplishes everything that they wanted to do here. Huh????

Mitt and Huck are in a donnybrook as the hours go by. The tiny differences in the average poll numbers is almost meaningless. Rumors of dirty tricks abound-but then when don’t they. It seems that both campaigns are melting down the phone lines. Both Fred and McCain’s people are looking confident for tonight. Fred has been a lot of attention today, although much of it spent denying a rumor that Fred is dropping out and endorsing McCain if he doesn’t finish third or better. There is a certain McCain buzzing sound as well.

I hate like heck to criticize Fox News but they keep representing the Caucus process as dauntingly difficult. Even the more complex Democrat viability selection process is so simple that it can be described in one sentence. The precinct caucus divides once by Presidential preference and anyone who is in a group with less than 15% of the total precinct turnout has to join a group that numbers more than 15%. There you have it Democrats-you are ready to caucus.

Which state would produce a better first step what should be a much later vetting process for the next President? Would a larger state provide the same opportunity for up close and in person inspection of the candidates. Do we think our process would be better if the governors have even less contact with the governed?

What system would provide more drama and hence better serve the need to captivate and inform as many voters, nation wide as possible? Has not the close horse race created a level of international interest unsurpassed by a boring and even less small “d” democratic primary? Of course, that‘s why 2000 members of the media from something like 80 countries are in town. Every story about the Iowa caucus educates the public in the requirements-and benefits-of democracy in general. This process strengthens the whole democratic fiber of the nation.

The Greatest (Political) Show on Earth

The collection of international media at the Convention Center, the gathering of America’s political elite and the tremendous significance of the event itself is providing Iowa and Iowans with the greatest display of political theatre that we have ever seen in this state.

Even a cynic like TRS was shocked at the scene from the Convention Center. Another report coming later tonight as to the actual events at the Center tonight. However, it looks like the media is having a great time. It also seems that almost all of the press has been favorably impressed, and surprised, at the level of political information and interest that Iowans display.

So every politically active person in Iowa should stand in a circle and give each other a big pat on the back-every one of you has helped Iowa earn this incredible, historic event.

TRS goes international.

TRS has been booked for a live interview with British ITN TV tomorrow at 1:00. Are the good people of the United Kingdom ready for the Real Sporer? Cool.

RAUCOUS!

TRS and Spouse partied in the New Year at “The Raucous Before The Caucus”. Calling it a great party pretty much says it all.

Our communications director, Mary Tiffany, and her Democrat counterpart Carrie Giddens, did a whale of job in pulling off this project. Four or five open bars, original Iowa food and drink like MaidRite, Maytag Blue Cheese, Templeton Rye Whiskey, Jasper Winery and, of course an unlimited supply of fantastic oers d’oeurves by Mike LaValle from the Des Moines Embassy Club. Big congratulations are due Mary and Carrie (even the rhyming names are cute) for the smash political soiree of the year (2007). Girls, you showed our state in a great light, did us proud as they say in southern Iowa.

A generous sample of Iowa’s political and journalistic savants was present, the proverbial Hendersons of Pablo-Fanques Fair. Since everyone was off duty, and the conversation was almost entirely political, we’d better not out anyone lest we start rumors about who said what to whom.

The broad consensus of opinion predicted a narrow Huck win over Romney on our side and somewhat wider Obama win on the Ds. The crowd was divided between McCain and Thompson coming in third. Even most of the Dems in the crowd thought Hillary would finish third. However, virtually no one thought the results in either party are particularly predictable. For example, Huck’s non release of the latest attack Romney ad was generally thought to be a gambit that could go every way. Virtually no one, even yours truly, has much confidence in their prognosis because race is so vexingly close in both parties.

One Democrat Obama supporter worried because she thought that predicted good weather would facilitate the attendance of older women, Hillary’s core base of course, on January 3. The most surprising discovery in a night of socializing with Democrats was a widespread and general desire to stop Hillary. There is hope for America after all. Perhaps the latest slap at Iowa from a high level Clinton campaign figure-the Governor of Ohio-informed or affected the local level of intra-mural opposition to Evita.

On our side, the media figures present began to notice Huck’s support among Rs is far more ideologically diverse than generally depicted in the national media. A number of last night’s celebrants who would hardly be described as “evangelicals” seemed solidly committed to Huckabee. This diversity is not yet reflected in the national media coverage of Huckabee but may very well be a factor on Thursday night.

But the greatest outcome of the event was the continued demonstration of Iowa’s bipartisan hospitality, decency and generosity, high lighted against the back drop of Des Moines’ beautiful downtown. Good job Mary and Carrie!