With the Iowa caucuses only days away, the tiny fraction of America that cares about politics is becoming utterly absorbed with the outcome of each party's internal slugfest to capture the presidential endorsement.
I claim no special insight, having met only a few of the candidates, none of them enough to afford me any more than a glimpse.
Though I've spent a fair amount of time in Iowa during the past 15 years, I can't even say I have much a clue what its voters might do this week.
On the Republican side, I've met Ron Paul a couple of times in Washington years ago. Back then, he was a Democratic congressman considered a whack job by almost everyone. He struck me as a more than a little looney, but perhaps he's changed.
I spoke on the phone once with Rudy Giuliani when he was a U.S. attorney. He was an insufferable jerk.
Among the Democrats, I know Chris Dodd the most, having covered him for the past 13 years. He's certainly smart and seemingly genial. But there's no reason to think he's going to get lucky and prove the polls wrong.
I met Hillary Clinton in Iowa last summer when she was campaigning with Bill in Cedar Rapids. They were both pleasant and neither of them seemed self-important. I was kind of surprised that I liked her as much as I did, since she'd always left me cold in the past.
I've never laid eyes on Barak Obama or John Edwards, and I only dimly recall Joe Biden giving a speech years ago that I attended.
That's kind of a long-winded way of saying I don't have any idea what's going to happen.
So who's going to pull it off?
*******
Copyright 2007. All rights reserved.
Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
18 comments:
Go with the H's. Hillary and Huckabee.
Questions about each of the H's:
Does Huckabee know where Pakistan is?
Does Hillary know where Bill is?
What the heck were you doing in Iowa the last 15 years, Steve? Are you some kind of potatoe farmerboy? Yew must like those flyover flatlands.
You should have stayed in Iowa, Collins.
Steve - My fearless prediction is that Edwards will win in Iowa but it will be close. He has a good, well organized and motivated ground team there who know how to make the caucuses work for them. Obama's people are newbies and Hilary's taken a few hits recently. The better test will be New Hampshire, where its anybody's guess right now. However, whoever wins in Iowa should get a bump for the NH primary.
Don't ask me about the Republican race, I don't have a clue who will prevail in that "I love God, apple-pie, Mom and I hate evil-doers fest". I do think Joe Biden perfectly summed up Rudy when he said "Every sentence he speaks contains a noun, a verb and 9/11".
It's too bad the so called "christian right" and others can't get by some personal imperfections of a candidate. It's too bad the left can't leave their agenda behind at a time of upmost importance.
Guiliani is definately the best choice. Here are the reasons.
1) He took on the mob and put all the 5 families of the NYC mob in jail...fearlessly.
2) He took NYC and transformed it form a cesspool to a much better place to live, visit, and do business. Anyone who knows anything about NYC knows this. Other mayors have based their crime fighting plan on Guiliani's model and crime decreased all throughout the US because of him.
3) He is an intelligent, super-qualified former DA, Mayor and Asst. Attorney General.
4) He is a proven leader during crisis.
No other candidate has his resume of accomplishments. No other candidate will help the economy grow, fight terrorism and stop illegal immigration as well as he can.
Mr. Guliani is an American hero and certainly a hero of NYC.
He'll get my vote.
Anon 9:06 - You make a few good points about Rudy. However, I think that his "leadership" during the crisis of 9/11 is a bit over-rated. Yes, he was inspiring in the days immediately after and gave us a needed boost, especially since our President spent much of that first day reading a book about pet goats and then hiding in Missouri. However, his actions after 9/11 show his tone-deaf side when it comes to corruption and civil liberties. He considered trying to remain as mayor since only he could do the job (so he thought) and had to be talked out of that foolish plan. Many of the firefighters and policemen he was publicly praising now hate him for the actions he took related to the recovery of bodies and the rapid disposal and sale for scrap of the rubble pile. He announced that there was no health risk to rescuers and construction workers without anything to back it up. We now know they were exposed to unhealthy air quality for months afterwards. In his defense, FEMA was saying the same thing, falsely and without proof as well. And the coup de grace was Bernie Kerick's use of an apartment intended for 9/11 workers as a private love shack to meet with his mistress.
I could go on about Rudy's shamelessly cashing in on the 9/11 tragedy through his speaking fees and other deals Guiliani Partners got but I don't think he's too different from any other poltician in that regard. They all cash in whenever possible. But did he really have to hold a fundraiser where the entry fee was $9.11? That's a bit much.
Marko:
As soon as I read, "since our President spent much of that first day reading a book about pet goats and then hiding in Missouri" from you I stoppped reading your needle-brain submission.
You are nothing more than an angry, ultra-liberal loser. Get over yourself.
Marko:
Edwards is a left-wing liberal ambulance chaser. He is a joke. He can't even get elected in his home state. His platform makes no sense becauase he is a naive, liberal pin-head (like you).
Hillary has more baggage than an airport hanger. I guess you forgot about thge White-water cover-up, the McDougals, national-health-scare, the fact that she has accomplished almost nothing in her tenure as Senator, and that all she's ever done is ride her husband's coat-tails. We could look at her Husband's accomplishments, most of which came as a result of signing Republican bills from Congress. And we can look at their absolute incompetence leading up to 9/11 such as giving up Bib Laden when the Sudanese had captured him, bombing the asprin factory, and the debacle he created with North Korea. Lets not forget the recession he built that would have come to fruition had it not been for the Bush tax policies.
When you write something like, "especially since our President spent much of that first day reading a book about pet goats and then hiding in Missouri" all you do is impress the low-life angry leftists who actually are the only ones that will have anything to do with you. It also gives me great reason not to ever support your buddy Craig Minor.
With any luck Ron Paul will get the chance to let the voters of this country decide. Politicians don't like him because he is for reduced government but he has shown some of the best ideas for this country in my opinion.
Happy New Year Alex. I see you still don't have the guts to sign your posts. Your brand of bile-spewing is why I haven't posted on this site since October. I thought people had grown up a little since the election but I guess not.
Mitt Romney is the conservative choice. He is best able to deal with all the issues America is presented with.
Any Republican so long is it is not that Liberal John McCain or that whackjob Huckabee.
If McCain is the nominee, it would be the first time I would support someone other than the GOP Nominee. He is no real Republican.
Alex - I'm not sure why you think I'm a hypocrite. I imagine its because you feel I'm being to negative toward you. Or maybe you think I'm not being clear enough about who I am. However, I've always found that the best way to deal with blowhard bullies is to call them out. They usually then run like the cowards they are. I'll gladly discuss this more with you next time I see you.
Allen Marko
Marko:
In all honesty "blow-hard bully" is exactly the phrase I would use to describe you. I know this from first hand, in person, experience regarding YOU. You know this is true. Why else would you think it OK to post your name after some of the most obnoxious, untrue, combative personal opinions regarding some politicians (that others look up to)?
As far as your little fight here goes, why on earth do you think only one person disagrees with you? Also have you realized that you are only one of maybe three people who don't post "anon" here?
So their lack of guts reflects on them, not me. Well don't worry, you've cured me of posting my "liberal, pinko,hate-filled drivel", at least for the forseeable future.
Goodbye and good luck!
Allen Marko
Boy after reading the way some people talk on here I guess I could sum up most of bristol's resident's complaints in two sentences. Make Nascar year round. Bring back hee haw. Seems more apt towrds a state like west virginia however more and more it looks like thats where bristol belongs nowadays.
To get back to the real purpose of this thread. I think Edwards may be able to pull out the victory in Iowa. The caucus can ve very intense and it is easy for people new to it to get intimidated where as Edward's people have done this before. New Hampshire for the democrats is going to start looking more clear after Iowa and whoever wins Iowa will certainly get a bump for NH.
As far as the republicans are concerned it is very interesting to watch. While McCain probably won't win Iowa he could certainly get a bum from the goings on there on Thursday. For sure he wants to see Huckabee beat Romney which gives him more of a shot after New Hampshire. Also it has been reported that many independents in NH have said they are going to vote in the republican primary should Hillary win in Iowa and McCain could certainly get a bump from more independents voting.
While being a democrat I typically focus more on the democrat primary its going to be a lot of fun watching the republican primary this year since it seems it is not just going to be a two state race where its all but wrapped up after NH as the democrat primary probably will be. Its going to be fun to see how the republican candidates react and the thnigs their campaigns do after NH since it will most likely still be very close at that point. All in all it is a very fun time to be involved and even be a spectator st this point.
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