We're all Ears

Missed this one earlier in the week. According to "The Fix" Dr. Frist added two more fundraising whales this week. Additionally, Cilizza backed up our line-change by saying that Frist is gaining ground at the expense of Allen, Huckabee, and Giuliani.

"Frist takes a big step forward among the influential evangelical movement with word that George Seay III, one of the founders of Legacy -- a burgeoning group of wealthy and politically minded evangelicals seeking to exert influence in the 2008 presidential election -- has signed on as a supporter of the Tennessee senator. Seay, a Dallas businessman, has a considerable political pedigree. His grandfather was former Texas Gov. Bill Clements -- the first Republican elected to that post since Reconstruction.

Frist has also inked Ross Perot Jr. -- the son of the two-time presidential candidate and Texas billionaire Ross Perot -- to his 2008 team. Perot Jr. is currently the chairman of Perot Systems Corporation and another major political and financial player in the Dallas community.
Frist still lags behind McCain and Romney in his courtship of the major players who form the financial backbone of any successful presidential bid, but he is making progress -- at the expense of people like Allen, Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and others."

RGA Follow Up

We got a post in the tipjar that makes a great point. Romney has probably raised a crapload of money in Massachusettes. Those donors are likely pressuring him into spending money there. That's clearly the other side to this story.

That being said, there are A LOT of competitive Governor's races out there that could use the $$$. And it's still questionable that the RGA puts Mitt himself in the ad. You could've run Healey ads without a moderately popular Governor in them.

Massachusettes- Seriously?

Mitt Romney is using RGA money to grease the wheels for his Presidential campaign... So says Chris Cilizza.

"The RGA -- through its independent expenditure arm -- is spending nearly $900,000 on ads touting Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey (R) -- ads that indirectly seek to shore up Romney's legacy in the state. The governor's image is all over the ads as a narrator casts the successes of the "Romney-Healey team," including a balanced budget, job creation and health insurance for all. "Why would we want to turn back?" asks the narrator."

Doesn't sound that shady. How about this.

Healey has pledged to give $15 million of her own money to the race.
Most Recent Poll- Deval Patrick (D) - 55%, Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey (R) - 30%... The same poll gave Mitt a 40/48 fav/unfav. Why would you want to mention someone with those ratings in the ad?
The Massacusettes media market also overlaps with....New Hampshire...

RGA has limited resources- why not use them in Florida or Alabama or give more to Jim Nussle. Seems a little fishy.

McCain's Bakers Dozen

Thirteen Iowa Legislators were named as advisors to McCain's PAC, Straight Talk America, today.

According to the AP, "The lawmakers who have signed on with McCain run the philosophical gamut from moderate to sharply conservative and represent rural and urban legislative districts. " Rod Roberts (R-Carroll), who has been a pastor, is one of the strongest social conservatives in the legislature.

Others include Former 3rd District Congressional Candidate, State Sen. Larry McKibben, R-Marshalltown; Sen. John Putney, R-Gladbrook; Sen. Pat Ward, R-West Des Moines; Sen. Mark Zieman, R-Postville; Rep. Rich Anderson, R-Clarinda; Rep. Dave Heaton, R-Mount Pleasant; Rep. Steve Lukan, R-New Vienna; Rep. Mike May, R-Spirit Lake; Rep. Bill Schickel, R-Mason City; Rep. Doug Struyk, R-Council Bluffs; Rep. Dave Tjepkes, R-Gowrie; and Rep. Walt Tomenga, R-Johnston.

They join Sen. Chuck Larson who called the announcement ''the largest legislative commitment for any candidate.''

The Cooler's question for today is: Do Legislative endorsements really matter?

Chat amongst yourselves.

Update: Turns out it's just a regular persons dozen. Dave Heaton wanted off the list.

The Mormon Question

Honestly we at the Cooler are uniformly cringing as we put this topic on the blog. I don't want to post about it, the rest of the staff doesnt either, but these are the facts:

1. Romney is the frontrunner/co-frontrunner in Iowa. So this matters.
2. He seems to be the only guy that fires up the commenters
3. The results are significant.

A gallup poll, posted in full over at Race42008 asks if Americans are ready to elect a (insert minority group here) President.

61% said they think we're ready for a woman, 58% an african-american, 55 percent said we are ready for a Jewish President.

Only 29% think we are ready for a Mormon President. 66% say, not so fast. That is a huge gap. The only groups that scored lower were atheists and homosexuals.

So whether or not we should talk about this, or we want to talk about this, everyone has to admit that this is a significant figure. Americans might not be quite ready for a Mormon.

Maybe if the country becomes more educated on Mormonism that will help, but national political campaigns are hard enough without having to be campaigning for yourself and your religion.

29%... That's a long row to hoe.

Stealing from Santos

George Allen took a page out of fictional Presidential candidate Matt Santos' book last night and bought a live television commercial on CBS. In an attempt to refocus (err save) his faltering Senate and thus Presidential campaigns Allen went directly to the voters.

He was with his wife Susan and viewers saw a backdrop with a picture of the Senators late father, former NFL coach George Allen.

According to Virginia political historians this is an unprecedented move. Some interesting facts.

• The ad cost $50,000
• He was the lead in to Deal or No Deal
• It ran for two minutes right before the beginning of Primetime
• It ran in all 5 of Virginia's media markets

A recent Mason Dixon poll showed the race 43/43, a precipitous drop from this Summer, when Allen held a comfortable 16 point edge. This move has a very Wadhams/Lacivita feel to it, but its significance is in the fact that Allen's internal numbers must echo the public numbers for the campaign to make such a drastic move.

You can read more about this ad here

You can see the "ad" at georgeallen.com

Coolers Abound

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. So we'll take it as a compliment, when we tell you that some folks in Michigan have spun off the Caucus Cooler and turned it into the Michigan Cooler.

Hopefully, this spin-off will be more like "The Jeffersons" and less like "Joey."

Without the alliteration, the title loses a little bit of its effect- but I'm sure they'll turn out fine.