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The Ames Straw Poll may soon be no more.
Today's installment of campaign-related news items that won't necessarily generate a post of their own, but may be of interest to political observers:
* Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) believes the Ames Straw Poll has "outlived its usefulness" and should be scrapped. The Republican practice began in 1979, and was most recently won by Michele Bachmann, who finished sixth in the Iowa caucuses a few months later.
* In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, a new Rutgers-Eagleton poll in New Jersey shows Gov. Chris Christie's (R) approval rating reaching 67%, suggesting the Republican base and Garden State mainstream are not exactly on the same page.
* Speaking of New Jersey, the same poll shows President Obama with a 61% favorable/32% unfavorable rating in the state.
* Though not yet official, it looks all but certain that Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin will be the next chairman of the Democratic Governors Association, taking the reins from Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (thanks to E.B. for the tip).
* Though just about every U.S. House race has been called, in North Carolina, Republican David Rouzer now wants a recount after apparently losing to Rep. Mike McIntyre (D).
* Who was the Republican presidential candidate the Obama campaign feared most? Jon Huntsman.
* In Ohio, might former Gov. Ted Strickland (D) seek a rematch against Gov. John Kasich (R) in 2014? He hasn't ruled it out.
* And in Illinois, Rep. Joe Walsh (R) may try to parlay his one unsuccessful term in Congress into a gubernatorial campaign. No, I don't understand it, either.
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Who was the Republican presidential candidate the Obama campaign feared most? Jon Huntsman.
Of course they'd be afraid of a sane person. If he was in an actual "conservative" party, instead of a far right fascist party, he'd be a very viable possibility. The kind of conservative one could disagree with and still respect and know he'd do the same.
You beat me to it. In a world where the GOP was a sane, not a rogue elephant, Huntsman would have been a formidable opponent. Intelligent, a dedicated civil servant and he even had a sense of humor (remember his ads against weathervane Mitt?). But, thankfully, the elephant *is* rogue, and Huntsman's bipartisanship (working, as an ambassador to China, for the Obama administration), which ought to have beefed up his credentials made him unacceptable, instead
B-I-N-G-O! "Of course they'd be afraid of a sane person"
Yet there is also the idea that it ain't nice to mess with a crazy man.
Huntsman scared the crap out of me too. He did the right thing for his country in answering when the president called and the Republican base will not put up that THAT!
I am a Democrat who would have voted for Jon Huntsman. He would make a fine president.
Huntsman scared the Obama people precisely because Democrats like India would have voted for him.
What they did not enter into the calculation is that Republicans would not. (For evidence, how did he do in the primaries? Oh, you mean they wouldn't even let him be in the 'debates'? HAH!)
DAY, Yeah, he was disqualified by the T-Party...........he has a brain. That's obviously not what they were looking for.
Honestly, if Jon Huntsman ran and he proved to be a better man for the job, then I wouldn't be "afraid" of him. I might have still voted for President Obama, but at least I'd be able to sleep at night thinking that an intelligent person is running the country. I was afraid of Romney, not just because people are stupid enough to vote for him, but because he's a raving idiot.
SHHHHH , Don't tell them to stop the crazy, we could win the house in 14 if they primary some more sensible people and replace them with lunatics.
sick, #2.5,
You're right, we have to get the House back in 14. We need the looney toons in there for our cause.
Well considering that the past two Illinois governors have wound up in the slammer, maybe Walsh should give it a shot so he could be more easily put where he belongs!
Since we're talking about campaign news, I thought I would mention that I filled out that survey form Obama For America sent out this past week, and listed all the things i thought were important. I am getting micro-targeted e-mails from OFA now, about what is being done by the president on those issues, with an opportunity for feedback. They are doing the thing they should have done in 2009: keep the base organized and active. So unlike the elephant, it appears the donkey can learn from experience and change his ways. I like it.
Noticed that too .....keep them engaged
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (R) believes the Ames Straw Poll has "outlived its usefulness" and should be scrapped. The Republican practice began in 1979, and was most recently won by Michele Bachmann, who finished sixth in the Iowa caucuses a few months later. It's about time. As I life-long resident of Iowa, I've long thought the Straw Poll was a waste of time and energy since it never accurately predicted the eventual Republican presidential candidate. I'm all for ANYTHING that shortens the campaign season. Now, if we can get the campaign season shortened to just a couple of months instead of a couple of years....
The idea of Iowa being the first primary state has also "outlived its usefulness." We're not going to have candidates who are more representative of the electorate at large so long as we put Iowa and New Hampshire at the front of the line. As things now stand, two very small rural states--with a disproportionate percentage of WASP and older voters--tell the rest of the country who the nominees will (or won't!) be.
We need rotating regional primaries that allow candidates appealing to a wider range of voters an opportunity to gain a foothold in the nominating process.
Or, if we're going to insist on having small states all but dictate the outcome, let's rotate those states so that a more diverse group of people are accorded that honor.
Just heard there's a cease fire agreement between Israel and the Gaza strip, brokered by Egyptian leader, Morsi and Sec. Hillary Clinton. I have a lot of faith in her abilities. I see a peace agreement in the not too distant future.
Breaking News:
Sec. Clinton has brokered a cease fire in Gaza.
If she can get a lasting peace- a la Jimmy Carter- will she be traveling to Oslo next year?
FLOTUS, Senator, Secretary of State, Nobel Prize: Been there, done that. Is there anything else to accomplish?
Yes. President.
Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.
Why not both? William Howard Taft did it!
DAY, #7
Grandchildren?
Hard to broker that, though.
I must correct my mistake, it wasn't Morsi she spoke with.
Perspective on Walsh.
I don't know much about the ownership of the Daily Herald, but there is a LOT of fishiness between that paper and Walsh.
Yep they did endorse Duckworth, but if you read the paper at all you'd be hard pressed to understand why. You would have thought that the Walsh/Duckworth battle was the ONLY one being fought in Illinois' NW suburbs. Walsh would sneeze and they would cover him.
Right after the election, the Daily Herald ran an editorial about the need for bi-partisanship in the US Congress. They held Walsh up as an example of someone who was an example of bi-partisanship.
The Daily Herald is the ONLY newspaper in the Chicagoland area talking about Walsh running for governor.
Call me a cynic, but my guess is that there's someone at the Daily Herald who is Walsh's sugar daddy.
That is an interesting perspective. I live in the district Walsh ran in and didn't vote for him. However, the Republican party in IL isn't strong in the greater Chicago area, and they may be looking for a candidate with some support in the suburbs. In my opinion, his stand on many issues is radical, but nobody is emailing me for my opinion.
Why do I get the feeling that these tea party candidates just run so they can then write books to sell to their illiterate base?
Re: Joe Walsh
Maybe he can't get a job in the private sector.
The nomination is wide open and the only vibrant part of the Illinois Republican Party is the wingnuts, who used to have to look out of state to find someone nutty enough to meet their standards. (See Keyes, Alan). Joe got a lot of hard right wing money during the campaign and probably correctly sees a niche for a home grown, battle tested crazy. I mean, not everyone can question the heroism of someone who got her legs shot off piloting a helicopter in Iraq. He proved his right wing douche bag bona fides and I don't think anyone would pay him to do anything else.