The Caucus Cooler

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2009-02-06T15:18:00.000-06:00

Predictions!!

2008-01-03T08:51:00.000-06:00

NOTE- We've decided to keep the predictions thread at the top of the page until the live blog starts tonight. So please scroll down for new content as the day wears on. Everything else will be posted chronologically below the Predictions thread. -CC

GAMEDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our predictions are below, make yours in the comments section. The winner will receive the admiration of the Cooler staff.

GOP
Michael Dale Huckabee 31%
Willard Mitt Romney 28%
Fred Dalton Thompson 12%
John Sidney McCain 11%
Ronald Ernest Paul 9%
Rudolph William Louis Giuliani 7%
Duncan Lee Hunter 2%

Democrats
Barack Hussein Obama 29%
Johnny Reid Edwards 27%
Hillary Rodham Clinton 26%
Joseph Robinette Biden 9%
William Blaine Richardson 6%
Christopher John Dodd 2%
Dennis John Kucinich 1%

If you hear any rumblings that might be blog worthy, drop us a note at caucuscoolertipjar@gmail.com

More than likely we will be live-blogging the results and speeches starting sometime this evening. There's an even greater likelihood that if it happens it will be the Cooler's swansong, so don't miss it.

Anti Romney Dirty Tricks in IA

2008-01-03T08:48:00.000-06:00

Ambers has the deets.

Mr. Mo

2008-01-03T08:47:00.000-06:00

John McCain advisors are touting a MAJOR endorsement coming out of New Hampshire very soon. Imagine a McCain 3rd place finish and a Huckabee victory, followed by Fred Thompson and another big NH figure endorsing McCain between now and Tuesday. Talk about momentum!

And for bonus points, check out the Cooler's favorite son, Jon Seaton expertly lowering expectations. Atta boy JS.

McCain is shaping up shockingly well at this stage in the game.

80,000 is the magic number

2008-01-03T08:46:00.000-06:00

So says Doug Gross. Anymore than that will mean a big L for the Mittens.

Jeff Fuller is liveblogging with Mitten all day. Check it out.

Richardson to send 2nd Choicers to Obama

2008-01-03T08:45:00.000-06:00

Things are not looking up in Hillaryland right now.

I've put a spell on you

2008-01-03T08:37:00.001-06:00

If you would like to place a hex on one of the Presidential contenders, click here. (Can you guess who the Cooler hexed?)

Chuck Norris likes to talk about how many people Awshucksabee has killed.

For the best blogospheric coverage in Iowa outside of the Cooler, read O.K.

Will be back with more rumors and innuendo from the streets of Des Moines soon enough.

Report Live from Your Precinct Caucus

2008-01-03T08:05:00.000-06:00

Patrick Ruffini is starting a cool program, where he's asking Iowans to report on the happenings at their caucus so we in the blogosphere can get up-to-date information. Go here for details. Keep the cooler posted as well at caucuscoolertipjar@gmail.com or in the comments section on your bberry.

Final Line Change

2008-01-02T18:51:00.000-06:00

Its been a blast everybody.

The Favorite

Mike Huckabee- 10-9. Hard to see him being stopped in the Hawkeye tomorrow.

The Juggernaut

Mitt Romney- 3-1 Can his organization bring him an upset?

The Comeback Kid

John McCain- 9-1, SRSLY? From nowhere McCain has resurrected his campaign. Kudos to Roederer and crew.

The Lazy Conservative

Fred Thompon- 9-1 Coinflip with McCain for 3rd. His organization will have to make the difference. But why would they be motivated to when the candidate spent New Years Day on the couch?

The Nut

Ron Paul- 12-1. Apparently there is a bigger white supremacist, chritianist, anti-Iraq War, pro-gold standard crowd than we had realized in Iowa.

The Mystery Collapser

Rudy Giuliani- 12-1 The wheels came off at the wrong time.

The Other Guy

Duncan Hunter 98-1 I have nothing to say about him.

Back with our official R and D predictions in the AM.

Doug Gross on Turnout

2008-01-02T15:49:00.000-06:00

"If 50 percent of the turnout is evangelical Christians, it would be very difficult for us to finish first in that kind of situation,"

Glover with a must-must-must reader on which counties to watch tomorrow.

2008-01-02T15:47:00.001-06:00

It's $$$$

A Wakonda Sized Slam

2008-01-02T11:17:00.000-06:00

On Becky Beach's home turf.. the Wakonda Club... Ed Rollins unloads on Mitten.

"What I have to do is make sure that my anger with a guy like Romney, whose teeth I want to knock out, doesn't get in the way of my thought process."

Do yourself a favor and read the whole story..

Odds & Ends

2008-01-02T09:18:00.000-06:00

For those who are wondering, Band of Horses was unbelievable. 5 Stars from the Cooler.

As for 'Raucus' we got some funny reviews from y'all (Sounds like you were having a good time Kevin Cooney) and we'll incorporate them as we have time.

The Register poll is out, Obama and Huckabee are the favorites. But both races are tighter than a nuns... (nevermind this is a family blog).. McCain is rising and Thompson is falling in tier two. Ron Paul is doubling Giuliani.

Huckabee's bizarre"I've decided to not attack Mitt Romney on air in Iowa because I am such a great Christian man, but WAIT I am going to show the ad to the entire national press corps so you can write stories about it" press conference is one that the Cooler wishes we could have been at.

And Huck isn't afraid to have Walker, Texas Ranger take some pot shots at Mitten.

Be back with a final line change, and more later.

P.S. If you are a staffer, get off the blog and onto the telephone. Well unless you are a Huckabee staffer. Then kill sometime here.

Raucus!!!

2007-12-30T21:58:00.001-06:00

The Cooler will be partying with Band of Horses tomorrow night in Hotlanta. So we won't be able to liveblog from Raucus before the Caucus as we would like to.

But we KNOW that some reporter types are going to be inappropriately drunk. So, we are respectfully requesting you email any funny Raucus before the Caucus stories to caucuscoolertipjar@gmail.com. If your story is funny enough, we'll post it Tuesday morning. Anonymity guaranteed.

So don't get too hammered Ambers/Sidoti/Martin/Nagourney/Balz/Cameron because the Cooler will have its eyes on you. :)

Happy New Years everybody...

Poll Madness

2007-12-30T12:45:00.000-06:00

4 train days.... And if you know who's going to finish 1st, 2nd, or 3rd, well you know more than the experts do.

Poll #1- The one that matters. The Des Moines Register is currently in the field according to multiple sources. We will be hearing from them shortly. The results of this poll will to a large degree effect the expectations game going into caucus night.

Poll #2- The one that doesn't matter. Srsly, you might as well just poll the Machine Shed. But here it is anyway. Zogby has Huck with a 1 point lead over Mitten and McCain in 3rd.

Poll #3- MSNBC shows Romney leading by 4 over Huck, with Fred in 3rd... And Rudy a DISTANT 5th. Trendlines show Huckabee down 8 points from 3 weeks ago.

Poll #4- Does the date on this poll say 2007 or 2006? McCain leads the Rasmussen national poll for the first time in a LONG time.

Poll #5- A Lee Newspaper poll shows Huck with a 7 point edge over Mitt with Fred in 3rd.
Huck and Romney are both up a couple ticks from 3 weeks ago.

Poll #6- (Another POS polling firm, these guys were miserably off in 06). But for what its worth, KCCI has Huckabee with a 7 point lead as well over Mitt. Trendlines here also show Huck and Mitt up a few ticks.

Poll #7- This isn't a public poll after-all. More of a "buzz." The Cooler has heard about internal polling data from 2 camps that both show Huckabee with a very narrow lead, but higher intensity among supporters.

And if you think our race is crazy, nobody has got a freaking clue what's going to happen on the Democrat side.

Happy New Year everybody. The Cooler is making a one night jaunt to Hotlanta, so we'll be blogging live south of the Mason-Dixon line...

Chingy Would Be Proud

2007-12-28T10:03:00.000-06:00

Huckabee's now famous quote that he's "not a foreign policy expert, but he did stay at a Holiday Inn" now has a visual aide.

Above is a more youthful Awshucksabee preaching at...you guessed it... a Holiday Inn.

Luda, Chingy, and Snoop's thoughts on the subject here.

Politico picks up on Cooler story

2007-12-28T09:45:00.000-06:00

Vogel has the deets on Huckabee taking $$$ from stem cell/contraception groups.

Ambers is on it

2007-12-28T09:25:00.001-06:00

Two interesting Huckabee items from the "well-sourced" Harvard alum.

Prominent Awshucksabee supporters are emailing pastors in IA to encourage them to GOTV from the pulpit this Sunday. (Jefferson would be thrilled)

Awshucksabee thinks Pakistan is west of Afghanistan. It's not. But who cares right? After all he did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

New Poll

2007-12-28T08:26:00.000-06:00

LAT has Huckabee with a commanding lead in the Hawkeye.

Huck 37
Mitt 23

Line Change!

2007-12-28T08:06:00.001-06:00

Under a week until game day. To the big board!

1. Mike Huckabee- Up from 2-1 to 3-2. He's weathered the negative ad storm, the El Rushbo storm, the Bob Novak storm, the snarky blogger storm and he still maintains a lead. He's your favorite, no doubt about it.

2. Mitt Romney- Static at 3-1. Getting blasted for a week straight on WHO didn't help. But he's covered the airwaves, he's preparing his boffo political organization for turnoutpalooza. A surprise victory might just propel him to a win in New Hampshire and the nomination.

3. (tie) Fred Thompson- Up to 10-1. Big King endorsement, getting good press traveling the state, 3rd Place is up for grabs.

3. (tie) John McCain- Up to 10-1 He seems to be the guy with the mo. But the New Hampshire centric McCain operation (read: Dennehycentric) has up until this week left the guys in Iowa without much to work with from a resource persepective. Can they tie their shoestring organization together for a 3rd place "victory?"

3. (tie) Rudy Giuliani- Down to 10-1 What happened to the once national frontrunner? He still has some GOP heavies working the groundgame in the state, but he seems to have all but abandoned IA/NH/SC in a bewildering strategy.

6. Ron Paul- Up to 25-1. You can't deny the poll numbers. Would anyone be surprised if Paul beat out one of the three people listed above? Didn't think so.

7. Duncan Hunter- Up to 98-1 on the strength of his smart, funny, and attractive statewide co-chair.

Update- For nostalgia's sake, check out the Cooler line part 1 and 2 from August, 2006. Who's that guy in 3rd place?

Light Blogging

2007-12-27T16:15:00.000-06:00

Sorry all. Real job got in the way at CoolerHQ today.

Back with a line-change tomorrow.

In the meantime, check out The Real Sporer's review of the McCain event today, Barack's amazing speechifying, and JMart's piece on Mittens TV monsoon in the Hawkeye.

The Dean

2007-12-27T08:32:00.000-06:00

Can't imagine why you are at the Cooler if you haven't read Yepsen yet... But just in case... He has a great article today on what it means to win the bronze on Thursday..

Here in the final days, they've each realized that a third-place finish would give them a little boost into New Hampshire and the subsequent contests - and winnow out the fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place winners.In other words, there is a standby seat on the Republican plane. Welcome back, boys. We know you have many choices for your air travel. Thank you for flying Iowa.

John McCain for President

2007-12-26T09:36:00.000-06:00

Often it is the time that calls for a leader, not the other way around. You can see examples of this throughout our nation's rich history, when courageous leaders seized moments that perfectly suited their political assets and capabilities.

This moment calls out clearly and loudly for John Sidney McCain

Read the rest of the endorsement after the jump. Make sure to also note our anti-endorsement of Mike Huckabee in the last paragraph.

Gifts for All

2007-12-24T09:07:00.000-06:00

Before we at the Cooler open Santa's gifts, we'd like to take a moment to give 1 or 2 things to each of the remaining presidential contenders.

Mike Huckabee- Supply Side Policies, studies in economics and business and Norman Podhoretz "World War IV, the struggle against Islamo-fascism." Hopefully some of it will sink it. We're not crossing our fingers.

Mitt Romney- Pinnochio. Mitt still needs to learn how to act like a real boy.

John McCain- The only thing we'd like to give John McCain this year is a party that appreciates him. But in lieu of that, he could probably use a new copy of Pet Sounds or maybe a Complete Guide to Music by the Beach Boys.
Rudy Giuliani- What it Takes. Let history be a guide Rudy. Waiting til Feb 5th just ain't gonna work. Also we'd like to give him a bound, laminated copy of the Mitchell Report. How about those juiced up Yankees!

Fred Thompson- A years supply of Red Bull. And an end to the writer's strike. (He's going to need work pretty soon)

Duncan Hunter- Duncan Hunter is still in the race? Have some tube socks.

Ron Paul- What else? A black helicopter and a tin foil hat.

May the joy of the holiday season find each and every one of you.

We'll be back with an endorsement, more gossip, and the sprint to the finish on Wednesday.

Merry Christmas everybody. (We aren't afraid to say it either Gary Thies)

-CC

Quad City Times- Time for A Real Hero

2007-12-23T13:22:00.000-06:00

Boy the endorsements keep on rolling in for Governor Awshucksabee. Oh wait. Nevermind.

Another one for McCain.

But at this critical point in history, America can benefit from an honorable man with a hero's record. For Iowa's Republican caucuses, we support John McCain.

Sioux City Journal Endorses Romney

2007-12-22T12:19:00.000-06:00

Not sure how much of a dent this will make in NW Iowa, which is the heart of Huckabee country. But any slice into that advantage will benefit Mitt.

Read the full endorsement here.

Romney combines an outsider’s new face with a proven track record of success in both the private and public sectors

As a businessman, the president and chief executive officer of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and governor of Massachusetts, he has demonstrated an ability to bring people together and bridge partisan divides, organize, mobilize and motivate in order to solve problems. In short, he combines an engaging personality with the leadership qualities necessary to inspire others to follow him.

Governor Graft- Update

2007-12-21T17:20:00.001-06:00

You can view the Governor's personal financial documents here.

COOLER EXCLUSIVE- "Governor Graft"

2007-12-21T13:33:00.000-06:00

The Cooler has obtained documents that show Mike Huckabee received $378,000 in consulting fees during 2006, while he was still governor of Arkansas.

Most noteworthy, $35,000 came from Novo Nordisk, one of the world's largest embryonic stem cell researchers. It seems that when money is at stake Huckabee may be able to look past his supposedly fervent opposition to this procedure

He also received speaking fees and honoraria from churches while Governor.

It is certainly calls into question whether or not it is appropriate for a Governor to be taking a consulting fee from interest groups, as Huckabee did, when issues surrounding that interest group could come across his desk.

The consulting money was funneled through an organization called 12 stops, a group created in 2004 to handle Gov. Huckabee's book deals. With all the attention Senator Obama received for running a separate PAC and potentially funnelling money from maxed out donors through that PAC, it calls into question whether Huckabee may have done the same.

You can view a full list of Huckabee "donors" here.

Developing...

Update- We never claimed to be math majors. Huck took 2 payments of 17,500 from Novo bringing the year-end total to 35K. Nearly half his governor's salary...

Romney's drunk dialing us

2007-12-21T13:18:00.000-06:00

Thank goodness we don't have a landline.

Martin on the incessant Romney phone calls in the Hawkeye...

Logan IA's "Herald Observer" endorses Mccain

2007-12-21T11:32:00.000-06:00

Link to the website here

"As our country faces critical accountability questions when it comes to treatment of prisoners during this war time, we must trust that we will elect a commander in chief who will not treat the Geneva Convention agreement as simply a nuisance. McCain has been tortured and he’ll be the first one to stand up and say it’s wrong – including the practice of ‘waterboarding.’

Of course, torture and is not the issue in which we will elect a president.

McCain has stood firm on his views of fair trade, free trade, NAFTA and the economy....While he did support an unpopular troop surge, U.S. casualties have reduced in recent months. We again defer to McCain’s knowledge on this front and hope he continues to show good sense as we try to find a reasonable conclusion to this war."

Condi!

2007-12-21T11:11:00.000-06:00

Forgive our brief foray into national politics...

Condi on Huckabee's criticism of the Bush foreign policy.

"The idea that somehow this is a go-it-alone policy is just simply ludicrous," she said at a State Department news conference. "One would only have to be not observing the facts, let me say that, to say that this is now a go-it-alone foreign policy."

Serious question for the Coolerites. Does anybody have any idea what Mike Huckabee's foreign policy would look like? In the NYT mag interview when asked who would influence his foreign policy he cited Thomas Friedman and Frank Gaffney! WTF?

Friedman you might recall said the 9/11 era of politics is OVER. And Gaffney is a avowed neo-con. Does Huckabee even know what they stand for? Who knows?

If you do have a sense for what Mike Huckabee's foreign policy would look like, please enlighten us in the comments section.

Housekeeping items

2007-12-21T09:52:00.001-06:00

The Cooler will make an official endorsement in the Iowa Caucuses next Wednesday. So make sure to check back for that over your Christmas holiday.
If you receive mail, a flyer on your windshield, or a nasty phone call over the next two weeks- scan it/record it and send it on over. We'll put it up no matter who the candidate is.
We were going to do the "paths to victory" post, until Ambers did it so much better this morning. So just read his. BTW- Is it just us or is Rudy's path the hardest to envision?? Who would've thunk it 3 weeks ago?
The Gazette mentions the Cooler.

WHO v. Mitt Part 2

2007-12-21T09:49:00.000-06:00

Read Part 1 below...

Onto the merits of the arguments.

Deace- Its been our position at the Cooler for a long time that this guy does more damage to the GOP than almost any other Iowa figure. His hateful so-called "Christian" behavior is completely reprehensible. And if he's reading this and would like to discuss on-air how his bigoted, hypocritical rhetoric both undermines Christians and Republicans, email us at caucuscoolertipjar@gmail.com. We'd be happy to discuss it with you this afternoon from 4-7. But unfortunately Steve has a platform, and an audience, of "Chrisitans" who believe that ostracizing minority groups and institutionalizing faith in government is the right solution. And this is not a small chunk of the Iowa GOP electorate. This is an influential, vocal minority, many of whom are lining up behind Governor Huckabee.

Mickelson- He has in the past always been a fair arbitor in our view. But the anger he is pointing at Governor Romney is unfounded. For those who haven't heard, Mitt sparked this anger when he told Katie Couric that the last time he lost his temper was when Mickelson challenged him about Mormonism, while there was a "hidden" camera in the booth. Now whether or not Mitt knew the camera was there it obviously wasn't hidden. But I'd think that Mitt's camp rightly expected that Mickelson wouldn't put video of a heated off-air argument on the internet. In the fall-out from this, Mickelson gained nationwide attention, his ratings soared and his national persona was cemented. Now he's taking the perceived slight of Romney's comments on CBS News to an absurd level for the purposes of ratings and entertainment. He's even brought friend to the Cooler, Tim Albrecht into the middle of the fracas, ludicrously criticizing him on-air. The end result? Mitt is dealing with what amounts to free negative advertising against him on Iowa's most influential show. And that doesn't bode well for him.

And before the comments explode, we'll post the first couple on your behalf. "The Cooler are shills for Mitt! You guys are on the payroll! Bias!!"

Whatever.

We're calling it as we see it. In the same way that Jan and Steve are calling it as they see it. We just disagree... Strongly.

Update- For the out-of-staters. You can listen to Mickelson's show from the past 2 days here.

Update 2- Unfortunately we won't be able to debate Deace today as he is off for the rest of the year. See you in 2008 big guy.

Update 3- GraniteGrok has a different take.

WHO vs. Mitt Romney- What it means

2007-12-21T09:27:00.001-06:00

We've been holding this post for a couple days while we got our thoughts in order on it. One of the biggest buzz items around Iowa the past few days has been Jan Mickelson absolutely eviscerating Mitt Romney on the radio for the past 2 days. We've received more emails about this than every other issue combined. On top of that, Steve Deace has made obliterating Romney (and Rudy and McCain) his personal mission for the past umpteen weeks. In this post we'll discuss what does this mean as it relates to the Iowa caucuses? In the next one, we'll look at whether or not it is fair.

The fact is this hurts Mitt in a major way. Jan Mickelson has the biggest microphone in the state. His show can be heard in most of Iowa's 99 counties and the listeners in large part are the same people who attend the caucuses. So 2 weeks from caucus night for him to use that platform to take on Romney has major implications. Unlike Deace (who is a Huckabeeite), Mickelson hasn't endorsed a Romney opponent. At times he's been critical of all the major contenders for the nomination. That is about the only positive spin Camp Romney can put on this situation. Looking back at 2006, you can see the damage Steve Deace did in splintering the GOP base, with his attacks on Jim Nussle. Mickelsons audience is exponentially larger than Deace's, so you cannot understate the impact it will have on the Romney campaign.

Part 2 here

Tancredo Endorses Romney; Rudy is sick

2007-12-20T14:52:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the light blogging today Coolerites.

Kay's got the pbp on the Romney endorsement.

“He will secure our borders…. He’ll require those who are presently here illegally to return home… He can go the distance.”

BigHeadDC has a rumor that Rudy's so sick he's pulling out (of the race that is). Judi says, not to worry.

New IA/NH Polls

2007-12-20T11:14:00.000-06:00

Here

Huckabee up 8 in Iowa over... JOHN MCCAIN. Romney lags 3 points behind the Arizona Senator.

In New Hampshire McCain is tied with Romney with Giuliani lagging 10 points behind.

As for trends. Since the last ARG poll Huckabee is static, Romney down 11, McCain up 11. In New Hampshire Romney down 10, McCain up 15.

In spite of Matt Drudge's best efforts, McCain is surging.

Huckabee at Jordan Creek

2007-12-20T10:15:00.000-06:00

Defends his Christmas ad, takes aim at Romney. Kay Henderson has the audio, it is worth a listen..

Another new Iowa poll

2007-12-19T17:13:00.001-06:00

We're drowning in data.

This one from the Washington Post has Huck up 8 on Romney and doesn't show the McCain surge...

Comparitively Huck is up and Romney static from the last poll which was taken a month ago.

If you are keeping score, the 3 IA polls today show Huck up 2, 1, and 8 respectively.

Thompson announces statewide leadership team

2007-12-19T12:25:00.000-06:00

Heavy blogging today...

Isn't it a little late for this?? Whatever.

Here it is.

U.S. Congressman Steve King, State Chair
State Representative Kraig Paulsen, Co-Chair
State Representative Sandy Greiner, Co-Chair
State Representative Clel Baudler
Former State Senator Bob Brunkhorst
State Representative Royd Chambers
State Representative Jeff Kaufmann
State Representative Jamie Van Fossen

The most noteworthy thing about this list is that it seems like Thompson has made the sale with the NRA folks in the state. Baudler is a big endorsement.. If he can get the sportsmen motivated in the state on his behalf, that would be a coup on caucus night. But does he have the organization/resources to get the email/mail going to this group in the next 15 days???

Romney blasts Huckabee through the mail

2007-12-19T11:37:00.000-06:00

Hitting IA mailboxes....

You knew the immigration attack was coming. Does the "messenger" soften the attack a little bit? We think so..

Look who's 3rd...

2007-12-19T11:12:00.000-06:00

To all of you who said the Register's endorsement doesn't matter in the GOP primary...

PPppsssssshhhhhh. We told you so. The newest Rasmussen IA numbers are out.

Huckabee and Romney are in a dead heat (Maybe those negative ads are working after-all) with John Sidney McCain in 3rd place.

The figures: Huckabee 28, Romney 27, McCain 14, Giuliani 8, Thompson 8, Paul 6, Tancredo 2, Hunter 1.

Compared to two weeks ago: Huckabee 39, Romney 23, Giulaini 8, Thompson 8, McCain 6.

The only two movers are McCain on the rise, and Huckabee on the decline.

This shit is fun isn't it?

We know this is an Iowa blog but

2007-12-19T09:01:00.000-06:00

WTF is going on with Rudy??

New poll has him getting doubled up by Mitten in New Hampshire. 6 points behind McCain.

Update: And a new national poll has him in a tie with the guy we've been telling you is the front-runner for the past week, Mike Huckabee.

New Iowa Poll

2007-12-19T08:47:00.001-06:00

A new insider advantage poll shows Huckabee's lead at only 2.

These guys haven't been in the field since early October so it is impossible to gauge any sort of trend data without other numbers...

Craig Robinson's Huckabee Yard Sign

2007-12-19T08:29:00.000-06:00

H/T to the hardest working man in blogging.

Craig Robinson, the Political Director for the Iowa Republican Party is sporting a Mike Huckabee sign in his snowfilled Poweshiek County front lawn.

The presumably neutral state party has made some not so neutral overtures during the Laudner/Robinson tenure. Recall in the late spring a press release blasting John McCain for his position on immigration, a position that was shared at the time by RNC Chair Mel Martinez and the President of the United States.

More recently a press release was sent out blaming Mitt Romney for pulling out of the Fox News debate, when in fact a number of other candidates had also not committed to participating. It is rumored that this release was the final straw that brought about the party's reorganization, with a reduced role for Chairman Hoffman and a greater role for Ted Sporer.

Robinson sent out an email on the subject you can read here.

Robinson's response when questioned about the sign, was to claim it is his wifes. But he couldn't resist taking another shot at Team Romney.

"I surely hope a certain campaign has better things to do then complain..."

Were Mitt Romney to be the party's nominee hopefully they would have the class not to punish the IowaGOP in any way for perceived slights. But who could blame them if they did? And why would the party put itself in this position?

NB- For the inevitable commenters who will trash us for this post, how would you respond if RNC Political Director Rich Beeson had a Mitt Romney sticker on his car as he pulled into "The Building?"

Line Change!

2007-12-17T22:31:00.000-06:00

You guys know the drill. We'll start at the top.

Mike Huckabee- He stays static at 2-1. Two new polls have come out showing him up 9 and 13 respectively since our last line change. His new ad is freaking brilliant. Floating cross and all. He's your favorite.

Mitt Romney- Drops from 5-2 to 3-1. Embarrassing day with the King endorsement gaffe. His attack ads on Huckabee are pedestrian at best. No new poll data has been encouraging. He's clearly in the number 2 slot right now.

Rudy Giuliani- Drops from 6-1 to 7-1. Good weeks from Thompson and McCain make his 3rd place status a little less secure. His organization and general appeal should still keep him ahead of the next two.

Fred Thompson- Endorsed by Steve King. Starting a statewide barnstorming tour. Need we say more. He goes from 15-1 to 12-1

John McCain- Endorsed by the Register. Seems to be gaining momentum nationally. Could an Iowa surprise be in the works? Up from 17-1 to 15-1.

The rest of the field- Who cares.

Huckabee religious imagery

2007-12-17T16:08:00.000-06:00

Take a look at the below ad one more time. Is it just us or do the bookshelves behind Huckabee make a cross? Just over his right shoulder for the first 20 seconds of the ad. It even appears to be lit in a different way. Brighter than the rest.

Very interesting. Very stealth. Borderline inappropriate (but who cares since it's getting his message across).'

Update: Drudge notices the same thing. Says the Huckabee ad contains a "floating cross"

Update 2: We've meant to bring this up before, but it is worth noting also that Huckabee's Iowa radio ad still includes the "Christian leader" intro that was cut from his TV spot...

New IA ads

2007-12-17T15:28:00.000-06:00

Mike Huckabee sure knows his base.

And Mitt Romney stays on the attack.

This is the 2nd straight Romney attack ad that we aren't particularly impressed with...

What does it all mean?

2007-12-17T13:13:00.000-06:00

A couple of random thoughts/rumors/musings for a Monday afternoon.

Word from the McCain Iowa headquarters is that there has been an influx of phone calls and drop-ins as a result of the Register endorsement. While a lot of folks poo-poo how much that endorsement means to Republicans, you can't underestimate the value of it. McCain was the subject of positive conversations at Sunday afternoon basketball games, church functions, and brunches. Just because the MOST active Republicans loathe the Register doesn't mean everyone does, and McCain sure could use the couple extra boots on the ground that it sounds like he's getting in the wake of this endorsement

What is the real effect of the King endorsement going to be? There are clear negatives for Huckabee, Romney, and Thompson. Consider:

Huckabee- Certainly not nearly as back-breaking as it would've been had it been a Romney endorsement but it will hurt nonetheless. Thompson has had essentially an inverse relationship with Huckabee in Iowa polls. Huckabee's support has come directly from many folks that were with Thompson in August and September. Can the King endorsement, plus the negative mail/ads being aimed at Huckabee swing the pendulum back towards Thompson for some of these voters? Huckabee also has a stronghold in northwest Iowa. Might some people who feel strongly about the immigration issue in Sioux County switch their allegiance to Thompson?
Romney- Clearly the Romney folks expected this endorsement, or at least thought there was a good chance they'd receive it based on King's comments last week. King certainly didn't repudiate Romney's record in his comments in the same way he did Rudy, Huck, and McCain's. Nonetheless for a guy looking to get the momentum back, this would have gone a long way...
Giuliani- In the muddle for 3rd place, Thompson now looks significantly stronger. Can Giuliani really survive a 4th place finish in Iowa? That has to put a tarnish on his national stature right.

How strong is Mike Huckabee? Word from multiple sources polling the state show him with a substantial lead in Polk County. If he's strong near Des Moines, he's got to be SUPER strong in rural Iowa. One source said that their internal "Hard ID's" show Huckabee with a substantial lead in the state's largest county.

Chew on that for a while Coolerites, we'll be back.

It's Fred!

2007-12-17T09:17:00.001-06:00

Steve King will endorse Mitt Romney any moment.

Stay tuned to Kay's Radio Iowa blog for the blowbyblow.

Update: Seems like early indications were wrong. Congressman King in fact endorsed Fred Thompson. Kay has the details.

Update 2: Thompson's out with a statement.

"Congressman King's leadership in support of the sanctity of life and his efforts in the fight against illegal immigration have made him one of Iowa's great Republican leaders. He's a tireless fighter for the 5th district of Iowa and I'm honored by his support. I look forward to working with Congressman King over the next three weeks and into 2008 in support of the traditional conservative values he and I share."

Ambers interviews Branstad

2007-12-17T08:50:00.001-06:00

Atlantic blogger extraordinaire Marc Ambinder has 3 minutes with Terry Branstad. Make sure to watch the whole thing. Branstad is not endorsing, but his feelings on the 2008 candidates can be encapsulated at about the 50 second Marc. When asked whether he thinks Republicans are unhappy with the field, this is his response verbatim.

"I think uh Iowans are uh are uh yeah. I think Iowans, uh you know, not everybody, I don't know, there's a lot of candidates..And I think there's a lot of good choices to be made and uh you know, uh..."

Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the field Governor...

Monday Morning Linkage (Basically just read 'The Page' edition)

2007-12-17T08:04:00.000-06:00

While we await the King announcement...

The first of many links from 'The Page'. Halperin points out the happenings in DSM this morning this morning.
Loebsack endorses Obama. Mari Culver, Edwards
Must read NYT story about Slick Willy.
McCain talking about how the Register endorsement will give him a lift.

Dave Roederer sums up our take on the endorsement nicely. “There are those that when they don’t get the Register’s endorsement always say that they are glad not get it, But the fact of the matter is that you like as many endorsements as you can possibly get. If every campaign were truthful about it, they would love to have the Register’s endorsement.”

Martin's take on Mitt's Meet appearance.
Rudy's drastically cutting down his New Hampshire ad buy.
And finally, some hipster dufus who spent a little time in Iowa GOP circles, writes about labor unions influence on the 2008 campaign in this morning's New York Post.

Steve King endorsement coming tomorrow

2007-12-16T20:54:00.000-06:00

Just a friendly reminder from your pals at the Cooler.

Kay has an email from King where he indicates that his wife and kids don't even know who he's going to endorse.

She speculates, as we did yesterday, that it is likely to be Romney or Thompson.

It will not be Rudy or Tancredo.

Mitt on Meet

2007-12-16T12:50:00.000-06:00

Can't help but comment on this morning's "Meet the Press."

On display was the liberal east coast elite's view of the Republican Party. Russert spent the first SEVENTEEN MINUTES talking about the Mormon faith. Then proceeded to rattle off abortion, stem cells, guns, and gays.

Mitt Romney was not asked a single question about Iran, Iraq, or the War on Terror. He was asked ONE question about foreign policy- about Mike Huckabee calling the President's policies arrogant.

We get that Mitt has to be asked about his Mitt-flops. If anyone gets that, it's us. We've harped on them time and again. But to have 1 hour with a man that could be the next President of the United States and not ask about energy or terrorism or the war in Iraq is beyond the pale.

Update: Apparently Romney did not actually get the endorsement of the NRA in 2002 as he claimed he did on MTP. A rather blatant mischaracterization on the Governor's part. And it's hard to imagine he would forget something that significant...

JSM and HRC

2007-12-15T20:02:00.000-06:00

The des moines register has endorsed mccain and clinton.. That's a clean early state paper sweep for the arizona senator.

More tomorrow.

COOLER EXCLUSIVE- Huckabee's Pet Project

2007-12-15T11:53:00.001-06:00

The Cooler has obtained the above photos of the Mexican consulate in Little Rock, Arkansas. For those that don't know, Governor Huckabee lobbied aggressively for the addition of a Mexican consulate in Little Rock, at the taxpayers expense of course. This consulate served as a resource for illegal immigrants living in Arkansas, and some Huckabee opponents claim it drew additional illegal immigrants to the state.

The Mexican consulate helps Mexicans, legal or illegals, with papers,and hands out a consular identification - which critics argue gives illegals a valid ID which helps them meld into society. All of the costs associated with this come out of taxpayers pockets.

Our take is twofold.

1. WTF is a Mexican consulate doing in Little Rock? You'd expect one in major cities, New York, DC, Boston, Chicago, LA, even border cities like San Diego. But Little Rock? Not to mention that Little Rock doesn't have a French or British consulate. Wouldn't that be a higher priority? And if over a century of Governors before Huckabee didn't see the need to have a Mexican consulate, why did he?

2. It makes Huckabee's transformation on immigration all the more baffling. He was clearly a pro-amnesty candidate for this whole campaign, even eloquently stating the reasons for his support for illegal immigrant rights as recently as the you-tube debate. (Comments that drew wide praise from the media). Now his plan is to send them all home? A rather brazen Huckflop wouldn't you say?

NB- It seems like the Mexican consulate could use a little yard work. Paging Governor Romney...

Weekend Linkage

2007-12-15T11:41:00.000-06:00

Jonathan Martin, the hardest working man in blogging, has two more must reads for you this morning.

Steve King WILL endorse a candidate BEFORE the Iowa Caucuses according to his son Jeff. Jeff told Martin that he had concerns about Huckabee's immigration views and implied his dad would endorse someone other than Tancredo. Fred? Mitt? We'll have to wait and see...
Plus a must-read interview with a "resigned" Mitt Romney. We hope Martin had some time to stop at Archie's.

Elsewhere,

Matthew Drudge continues to eviscerate Governor Mike Huckabee. Today's banner headline "Huckabee slams 'arrogant' Bush White House." But worse is the article itself, look at this biting lede... "Mike Huckabee, who has joked about his lack of foreign policy experience, is criticizing the Bush administration's efforts, denouncing a go-it-alone "arrogant bunker mentality" and questioning decisions on Iraq."
Bork backs Romney.
The Register will endorse in tomorrow's paper. We at the Cooler thinks it will be Edwards. What about you all? (Worth noting that the 3 top players at the Register, Hunter/Hollingsworth/Washburn are all women. Making this particularly interesting for Hillary.)

The New National Frontrunner

2007-12-14T12:59:00.001-06:00

We like to stick to Iowa topics here at the Cooler but this is such a dramatic poll result that it must be discussed

Mike Huckabee leads in the newest Florida poll. He stands at 27% to Romney's 23%, and Giuliani's 19% according to Rasmussen.

We have a new frontrunner for the Republican nomination for President in Mike Huckabee. Not just an Iowa frontrunner any longer.

What an unbelievable campaign!!!

Two new Iowa polls show Huckabee ahead

2007-12-14T12:56:00.000-06:00

By 9 and 13 respectively over Romney...

Its hard to judge trends as this is the first iteration of Lee and Hotline numbers to come out since Huckmentum took hold.

What about Rudy?

2007-12-14T12:41:00.000-06:00

We haven't had a whole lot of Rudy content on the blog since our return, so we thought it would be a good time to take a look at his Iowa efforts.

Rudy's Iowa strategy is working to an extent, largely thanks to the fact that the Iowa and national media are letting him get away with it. What's his strategy you ask?

Quietly build a strong organization in the state, spend money on mail and radio, cruise to a strong finish and on caucus night say, "look at how well I did without even trying." As part of this strategy he is making astonishingly few public appearances in the state. (For whatever reason it seems like McCain gets a lot more grief from the Gang of 500 on this than Rudy does).

In the past few weeks, Rudy's only appearances here were on debate day. Following the debate he held an event in Valley Junction and then jumped off to Crapids (his favorite stomping ground in the state). The reason his schedule is so light is because it reinforces Rudy's campaign message that they aren't really trying in Iowa.

But is that message true?

We've gotten more mail from Rudy at Cooler HQ than any other candidate. We counted 13 pieces so far. His staff in the state is full of Bush veterans and they have nearly as many boots on the ground as Romney at this point. And Rudy's been on radio since September, as anybody who listens to Jan knows.. So the reality on the ground isn't quite as barebones as Duhaime and crew would have you think..

Kudos to team Rudy for playing the game right. It is quite surprising though that the national media is letting the nominations front runner get away with it...

Old Rudy on Immigration

2007-12-14T08:35:00.001-06:00

The only thing surprising about this video (which is being sent around by Camp Romney) is that something similar hadn't come out earlier. Rudy's soft spot for illegal aliens in New York is well documented.

Frankly, we at the Cooler always thought it was strange that Rudy didn't take a larger brunt of the "amnesty" criticism back in the spring when the immigration bill was being debated in Congress.

Morning Linkage

2007-12-14T08:19:00.001-06:00

Good morning Hawkeyes. Will be back with more Cooler content later today. But until then here are some links to satiate your palate.

The hardest working man in blogging, Jonathan Martin, has the biggest news this morning. A Martin source says that well-placed Iowa Republicans are discussing adding a debate the week between Christmas and New Years. They don't want liberal Carolyn Washburn and the terrible Register/IPTV debate format to be the last forum.
Rich Lowry crushes Huckabee in NRO. Compares him to Dean.
Ron Paul is paying Arkansans to come rip Huckabee in Iowa. Kind of weird.
Peggy Noonan echoes the Cooler's frustration with the fact that religious faith is the prime issue in the Republican race in Iowa.

More on Washburn

2007-12-13T13:17:00.000-06:00

Preeminent Iowa Dem blogger Chris Woods has this on Carolyn Washburn..

I just spoke with a few friends who have worked at or still currently work for the Register and they confirm that the paper’s policy is that those on staff should be registered as “no party” and should not be participating in primary/caucus voting which identifies a particular partisanship.

Clearly Ms. Washburn broke that policy when she voted in the 2006 Democratic primary. Only one question remains, was it for Chester, Mike, or Ed???

Jake Tapper on Adamson scandal

2007-12-13T13:04:00.000-06:00

As first reported here at the Cooler, Marion city councilman Craig Adamson sent out a mass email to Linn/Marion County Republicans that was highly critical of the Mormon faith.

Today, Jake Tapper of ABC News, (we've always been a big fan of Jake's at the Cooler...) spoke with Adamson. And there are a couple interesting tidbids his story produced.

Adamson is currently "leaning towards Huckabee" (shock) but is also considering Tancredo.
He acknowledged that the email was inappropriate but then added, ""If you've delved into the Mormon faith at all there's a lot to swallow." Then adds. "Mormonism is a cult, I'm not going to back down on this."
Jake also gets Romney spokesman Kevin Madden to submit this comment, Says Romney campaign spokesman Kevin Madden, “Governor Romney continues to believe that this campaign should not be about questioning a candidate’s faith. While it is fair to criticize a candidate’s record or policy positions, we would strongly disagree with anyone who would choose to make disparaging remarks about a candidate’s personal faith."

Mr. Magoo

2007-12-13T08:29:00.001-06:00

Sometimes in life you just get on a roll. Whether it is a hot craps table, a string of good luck at the office, or the one summer in college when you seemed to attract whatever guy/girl you pleased.

Mike Huckabee is on that kind of roll right now.

And in perfect Magoo form, Awshucksabee has done it again. If George W. Bush had done something as profoundly politically stupid as question specific tenets of his opponents religion- only to see the resulting media work in his favor- everyone would assume it was another Rovian genius maneuver. (Same goes for Reagan/Atwater, Clinton/Carville etc...)

But we at the Cooler refuse to give that kind of credit to Mike Huckabee.

Huckabee stupidly and thoughtlessly took aim at Mormons (in fact he almost definitely was just saying what he really thinks in his heart). It was an unpresidential and completely inappropriate comment from someone who wants to lead ALL Americans.

But just like Magoo bumbling his way to a victory over jewel smugglers, Awshucksabee is benefiting from the ensuing media coverage.

Following a boring debate, Huckabee made the only news by apologizing to Gov. Romney for his comments. Thus ensuring another FULL DAY of coverage regarding Mitt Romney's Mormonism.

So to recap, the two news cycles during and following the debate have served only to reinforce the following.

A) Mike Huckabee is a Christian
B) Mitt Romney is a Mormon

If the Guinness guys were advising Huckabee they'd say "Brilliant!!!"

It's sad that it has to come down to this.

SHOCK- Debate Moderator a Registered Dem

2007-12-12T15:58:00.000-06:00

Des Moines Register Editor Carolyn Washburn was this afternoons moderator. She didn't look a lot like she does in the above picture. What with the horrible black hair dye and the facelift. But trust us, it was her.

Well it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone, that Carolyn is a registered Democrat. On 2/8/2006 she became newly registered in Waukee. The Register's opinion section really does a good job hiding it too. (heavy sarcasm)

You'd think after the CNN/Youtube mess they would've been more careful..

Live Bloggish

2007-12-12T13:01:00.000-06:00

Here are some highlights from our live blog. Read the whole thing HERE. (It's funny, we promise).

1:08- HDTV! Sweeeet.

1:13- Alan Keyes. LMFAO. (Side note. Doesn't calling your TV show "Alan Keyes is making sense" in some way tacitly acknowledge that people think you're crazy.)

1:14 Carolyn Washburn colors her hair much more drastically than Mitt.

1:39- Final tie rankings, 1. Huckabee 2. McCain 3. Tancredo 4. Hunter 5. Keyes 6. Romney. 7. Thompson 8. Giuliani

1:40- Huckabee claims that its hard to believe in global warming when its cold out. Then says we need to be stewards of the earth. Trying to cut that pretty thin.

1:50- Nearly an hour in. Not a single person has even tried to draw a contrast with Huckabee, the Iowa favorite, or Giuliani, the national favorite. You're running out of time fellas.

1:52- Everybody knows that Alan Keyes daughter is a lesbian and he disowned her right?

2:13- Romney makes a funny. When asked if he wants to respond to Keyes he deadpans "I'm not sure." Mitt also has a little verbal tick, he always says "Thank you" at the end of every question. Who is he thanking?

2:24- The McCain argument in a nutshell, "I can never think of a time where I have compromised my principals and I hope I never will"

2:30- Cooler Analysis:

Winner- Huckabee. He stayed on his religious, compassionate messaging. He didn't have to rebut any tough challenges from his opponents or from the moderator. He's the favorite.

Loser- The Des Moines Register. What a terrible debate format. Kudos to them for asking about issues besides God and gays, but besides that they get a thumbs down from the Cooler.

Other Notes- McCain was strong as he has been for a couple debates. Rudy didn't make any mistakes and handled the toughest question (disclosure) well. Romney gave some great answers, but didn't distinguish himself from Huckabee, so that's a loss for him. Keyes is a lunatic.

And special thanks to Andrew Sullivan and others who have linked to us. The Cooler will surpass 5000 unique visitors today alone.

GAMEDAY!!

2007-12-12T10:43:00.001-06:00

2 Hours 15 minutes from the Des Moines register debate. Keep it locked on the Cooler for the blow by blow.

In the meantime, if you haven't read Beaumont's seismic debate preview.. for shame.

Also for those killing time at the office, here are some other debate-related items.

M!E! Sprengelmeyer with a preview.
Halperin's take
Crowley's flight to the "Greatest City in the World
Simon's take on the chaos that is the nominating battle.
O.K. with a cute story about Mitt in the skywalk yesterday

More on Huck

2007-12-12T09:28:00.000-06:00

We promise we'll blog on others following the debate this afternoon.

Wanted to make sure you didn't miss this NBC news report on Huckabee's ethical issues.

From Adamson to Huckabee

2007-12-12T08:29:00.001-06:00

Mike Huckabee asks in a soon to be published interview..

"Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"

This goes directly counter to Huckabee's claim earlier this month that he is "just not going to go off into evaluating other people's doctrines and faiths. I think that is absolutely not a role for a president."

Sidoti's got the story.

Cooler aside- What does it say about our party that 3 weeks from the caucuses, (the 1st step in the PRESIDENTIAL nominating process), we are talking about Jesus, the devil, Mormons, and quarantining AIDS victims? Maybe we should just hold these things between the offertory and communion hymns. Hopefully the Register debate will focus on real issues like Iraq, Iran, energy, education, and immigration. Not god, gays, and guns.

Cooler analysis- The more the media talks about Mormons, Jesus, gays, and the devil, the better it is for Awshucksabee.

Against the Grain

2007-12-12T08:22:00.000-06:00

A minor item that came across the Cooler's transom.

Tonight influential Dallas County social conservatives's Barb and Fred Taylor are hosting a house party for John McCain following the debate.

On June 29th they did the same for Mike Huckabee. It appears they weren't satisfied with what they heard.

Like salmon swimming up stream....

For those that are interested, Senator McCain will also be speaking to the Bull-Moose club after the debate and will have a pre-debate rally at Bennigans..

Note- Unfortunately our day job precludes us from live blogging from the Register debate, but we'll have plenty to say on it later...

COOLER EXCLUSIVE- Why "The Speech" Mattered

2007-12-11T17:02:00.000-06:00

The Cooler has received a copy an email from Marion City Councilman Craig Adamson that calls Mormonism "a cult" and calls the faith "secretive." This email was a response to an invitation to a Mitt Romney event tomorrow night at Linn Mar High School.

Councilman Adamson "replied all" and included dozens of Iowa conservatives on this disturbing email. For an elected official to send out this kind of message. Well, it doesn't reflect well on the Iowa caucuses or Iowans in general. You can read more about Councilman Adamson here.

From a political standpoint this demonstrates the challenges Gov. Romney still faces, and to a certain extent the Huckabee boomlet. The relevant parts are below. Click here to read the email in its entirety.

Would any of you support an avowed atheist for president? Do you think religion, especially Christianity, is being marginalized by ACLU and other organizations? If so than you would be piling on to vote in a Mormon. Mormonism is a cult. In case I didn’t type it clearly enough… Mormonism is a cult. I won’t vote for Mitt Romney for numerous other reasons, but based on my knowledge of Mormonism, I would not trust him as my president as he might be fooled into believing most anything. How could he possibly be trusted to negotiate with Islamic radicals? He might believe Muslim and Mormons are the same, just like he tries to pass off Mormons as Christians. The Mormon Church is extremely wealthy and extremely secretive. But that is information for another time. Additionally, the LDS religion is sexist, racist, and the Church president is considered both a prophet (on the same level as Jesus) and ultimately the authority for God on earth. Mitt would be going against Mormon doctrine and risks ex-communication if he didn’t take orders from his Church.

As Drudge would say: Developing....

Winter Wonderland Potpourri

2007-12-11T16:02:00.000-06:00

Many thanks to our good friend, Andrew Sullivan and others for the links today. The Cooler is back with a splash, over 1000 page views and 700 unique visitors as of 4PM Central time.

It must be the snow keeping everybody in...

An afternoon blogging potpourri...

Mitten receives the endorsement of the National Review. Here's the line that encapsulates the Romney argument.
At a time when voters yearn for competence and have soured on Washington because too often the Bush administration has not demonstrated it, Romney offers proven executive skill. He has demonstrated it in everything he has done in his professional life, and his tightly organized, disciplined campaign is no exception.
For those interested in Huckabee's IA schedule, it should be significant following the Christmas holiday. The Cooler has gotten updates that indicate he may very well be in the state from the 26th-3rd. Feel free to drop us a line if you want your candidates schedule on the blog.
Minuteman founder endorses Huckabee. (What a violent turn Huck's made on this issue since his 'God's Children' comment at the youtube debate.)
If you haven't read Yepsen on Obama yet, well.. WTF are you doing at the Cooler?
McCain's path to victory according to campaign manager Rick Davis
Erik echoes our earlier comment about Huckabee oppo (gays, aids, 'take back America for God) isn't really oppo at all.
The Register on the Cooler's BOY, M.E. Sprengelmeyer

Graciously Submissive

2007-12-11T09:05:00.000-06:00

Take on the Romney ad, as promised, is below...

But we couldn't let this gem get by without a mention.

In August of 1998, Huckabee was one of 131 signatories to a full page USA Today Ad which declared: "I affirm the statement on the family issued by the 1998 Southern Baptist Convention." What was in the family statement from the SBC? "A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ."

The ad wasn't just a blanket, "we support the SBC statement," but rather highlighted details. The ad Huckabee signed specifically said of the SBC family statement: "You are right because you called wives to graciously submit to their husband's sacrificial leadership."

But hey, Iowa is the only state besides Mississippi to never elect a woman to statewide office, so maybe this will play well here..

The Romney Ad

2007-12-11T08:44:00.001-06:00

Here's our take.

It's weak. Very weak. We understand the concept of "Iowa nice" and their concern about an ad backfiring. But the production values are shoddy and the distinction made could be much crisper. This also shows that Mitt's internal numbers reflect the public polling data and also forces him to be on the attack for the remaining 3 weeks.

All of that said, when the most recent Mason Dixon poll showed Huckabee leading amongst those for whom immigration is the biggest issue, it became apparent that Mitt was going to have to attack..

It will be interesting to see how much further camp Mitt is willing to go to bring down Mr. Mo.

NB- Iowa caucus vet and McCain chair Dave Roederer's views on the ad...also not so positive.

“Governor Romney has flip-flopped on several major issues that voters care about. It’s particularly amazing that Governor Romney would attack anyone on immigration when he’s on his third position. John McCain has run an honorable campaign that all Iowans can be proud of. I call on Governor Romney to drop his plans for this negative attack and follow John McCain’s lead. Candidates need to raise the level of the debate, not lower it.”

Mitt goes on offense

2007-12-10T16:55:00.000-06:00

Romney goes up with a very mild negative ad, targeting our new frontrunner. We will have more tonight. For now take a look at Martin's blog.

Various Huckabee Items

2007-12-10T08:49:00.000-06:00

When you've got the mo', you're the one making news.

Two big points to be made this morning:

1. IFPC Executive Director and former Brownback supporter (as well as being the Kansans college roomate), Chuck Hurley joins team Huck. He will join some other values voter "heavies" on a 7 day tour of the state to stump for Huck..

2. Clearly Drudge is out for blood. He's had Huckabee oppo on his banner ever since the MSNBC poll came out showing Huckabee in the lead. The problem is that Drudge has more of an east-coast, secular sensibility than some other conservative media icons (Rush, O'Reilly etc..) For 3 straight days he's had seemingly critical headlines that point to Huckabee's belief that homosexuality is wrong, AIDS patients should be quarantined, and now his comment that we need to take America "back for God." Whether you like it or not, all of these things probably help Huckabee in Iowa. They certainly don't hurt him in any substantial way. So while he might be feeding distaste for Huckabee amongst the East Coast elites (and that serves a small purpose given how friendly the MSM has been to this point), he might be unwittingly helping Huck among likely primary voters. Maybe we're misreading Matt's intentions. More likely, Matt is letting his personal views get in the way of his political agenda.

Sunday School

2007-12-09T14:03:00.000-06:00

Don't miss Beaumont's must-read article on Huckabee and home-schoolers in this mornings Register

Vicki Crawford, a home-school mother from Granger, said she liked Huckabee's policy profile and relaxed demeanor after meeting him last spring. But she was unsure if the little-known candidate could gather the support to compete with the Republican field's heavyweights.
Michael Farris' endorsement of Huckabee in May, meaningless to much of the voting public, sent a strong signal to Crawford and other Christian home-school families in Iowa. Farris is founder and chairman of the Virginia-based Home School Legal Defense Association and the national figure for Christian home-school families.

How did the story about Jesus and the man with leprosy go again??

2007-12-08T11:09:00.001-06:00

Christian Mike Huckabee went to bed with a 22 point lead in Iowa. He woke up with a flash from his past. As a candidate for Senate in 1992, Huckabee said that he thought AIDS patients should be quarantined. He added that federal health agencies shouldn't fund AIDS research.

We're sure Andrew Sullivan will be thrilled.

Nobody has ever accused us of being biblical scholars here at the Cooler. But we recall Jesus healing the sick, not quarantining them. Maybe somebody from camp Huck can clear that up in the comments...

NB- The burning question is, how much does this hurt him? Well if it's the first of many oppo dumps in the coming weeks, then he should be worried. This in particular will probably hurt him in other places more than Iowa. If you want to be refreshed as to why, click here.

Line Change! (Holy F**** S* Edition)

2007-12-07T17:01:00.000-06:00

A Newsweek poll just broke on MSNBC at the top of the hour showing Awshucksabee with a TWENTY TWO POINT lead in Iowa. 39% to 17% for Mitt Romney.

We'll let you know what the gang of 50 has to say over the weekend.

But this what we have to say.

The depth of Huckabee's support has been demonstrated in poll after poll recently. We listed earlier all of the arguments in his favor, including an Evangelical base that requires much less nagging to turnout than the average voter. Even further, most of them don't need any pushing at all, they've been doing this for two whole decades now. And the "he can't get the nomination" argument can be completely dismissed at this point.

As we stand on Friday, December 7th at 6PM, it is very hard to see how Mike Huckabee does not with the Iowa Caucuses. The Iowa CW has completely been turned on its head.

New Line has Mike Huckabee as the overwhelming favorite at 2-1.

Now it gets fun...

News and Notes

2007-12-07T12:31:00.000-06:00

Ambers has news of some dirty tricks targeting Romney. If you've received one of these calls, drop us a line.

A warm fuzzy moment for McCain in New Hampshire. Speaking to a questioner who wished to die... "I believe every life is precious, and I believe all of us are God's children. And I will not lose hope that we will develop cures that will relieve the burden that you have ... I hope you will never give up your hope and your faith."

Krauthammer on Huckabee playing the religion card in Iowa.

Huckmentum

2007-12-07T11:21:00.000-06:00

Confused by Awshucksabee's ride to the top in Iowa? This quote from Steve Carlson, (NW IA GOP Activist) in this mornings Wall Street Journal has it in a nutshell.

The speech didn't win the vote of Republican Steve Carlson, a Pentecostal Christian and a consultant for the nonprofit voter-education organization Iowa Christian Alliance. "If my choice is between Mike Huckabee, who I know is saved, and Gov. Romney, who as a Mormon...I'm going to pick Mike Huckabee," Mr. Carlson said.

Whether you like it or not (we don't) the guy playing the most important role in GOP primary right now died about 2000 years ago... You can't underestimate the strength of the evangelical block in IA, and they've found their man... And its going to be a tough thing for even the most boffo political organization to stop.

New Years Plans Now

2007-12-07T10:56:00.000-06:00

The Register reports that following Adam Nagourney's lovenote to Des Moines in the New York Times, the few good eating options in Des Moines are filling up with media types and other east-coasters.

Lucca is already booked (****!)

So if you want to dine (as we at the Cooler do) at Centro, 801 Grand, or Zen on New Years Eve- do yourself a favor and call them on your lunchbreak.

Fred's Awake

2007-12-07T09:06:00.002-06:00

And he's comparing Awshucksabee to Slick Willy in your mailboxes. If you haven't seen it, here you go...

Morning Reads

2007-12-07T08:48:00.000-06:00

Camp Romney can't be too happy about the Register's coverage of "The Speech." Take particular note of the 3 graph broadside from Rev. Frank Cook of Des Moines.

Press Citizen and Globe Gazette weigh in as well. What's Mickelson going to say this morning??

Ambers (Mr. "CW") has a much more favorable take.

Time has a feature on Iowa staffers..

WSJ on the chances of a McCain comeback.

The Fix's new line is up. (No sign of Senator Zzzz)

The First Mistress of Manhattan had chauffeur shopping service according to the New York Daily News (is it just us or have the NY tabloids really kicked the Rudy attacks into high gear the last few weeks)

Line Change!

2007-12-07T07:05:00.000-06:00

Without further ado..

1. (tie) Governor Mitt Romney- 5-2

The Kochel/Collins organizational juggernaut is still in place. No expense will be too lavish over the next 27 days. You better believe they will have caucus captains at more precincts than any other campaign, by a long shot. That said, this campaign is far from a coronation. Haunted by Mitt-flops and an unexpected coalescing of evangelicals behind Awshucksabee, Romney faces the very real potential of a loss in Iowa.

1. (tie) Governor Mike Huckabee- 5-2

WTF? The Cooler has been known to brag when we were the first to catch onto a trend... In this case, we were far from that. We doubted Awshucksabee this entire campaign but now there is no questioning his popularity. If you took a poll of Iowa's"Gang of 50" (and we did a small sampling yesterday just to make sure), you find as many people that think Huckmentum will carry the day, as you do people who think Romney's organization is too big to overcome. The things in Huckabee's favor?

Any pollster will tell you: The most encouraging thing for Huck in these last few polls has been his depth of support. 60% said they were definitely with Huckabee in one poll. Romney hovered in the low 30's.

The types of people Huckabee is drawing, are those that always go to the caucus, making his turnout operation a little less important. A large percentage of the caucus population are the habitual voters. Many are older people who have been caucusing for as long as they can remember... Huckabee is not trying to do what Obama is doing. Huckabee's bringing in OLD voters. This is important.

To buttress point #2, many of these voters are part of the evangelical organization. These folks know how to caucus, they've been doing it since 1988 with Pat Robertson. And while this coalition was fragmented just 6 weeks ago, that no longer seems to be the case. They've found their man in Awshucksabee. And now they believe he can win.

3. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani- 6-1

The Cooler gives a standing ovation to Mike DuHaime, Tony Carbonetti, KC Jones, our old friend Maria Comella, and the rest of team Rudy. We were confused, befuddled, bewildered by the Giuliani campaigns Iowa strategy when we last blogged. But it has all come into place. Unbelievably low expectations for a national frontrunner (We have no idea how they are getting away with this), A quiet, but strong, in-state organization led by very competent folks, a perfect storm of Awshucksabee surging to weaken Mitt and Thompson collapsing opening the door for Rudy to snatch the 3rd ticket out of Iowa. It seems to be working. Can Rudy win this caucuses? Almost definitely not. But given his ENORMOUS challenges in this state, he's looking about as good as could be expected.

4. Senator Fred Thompson- 15-1

We could write a long diatribe about why Fred imploded in Iowa---and we probably will. But this morning we won't waste your time when Fred's campaign could accurately and completely be described in one letter.

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

5. Senator John McCain- 17-1

Given how ugly things were for the Straight Talk Express this summer, the position he's in now is rather remarkable. A 4th place finish is a very real possibility. If somehow the Iowa organizational veterans running the show over there can squeeze out 3rd, and Huckabee takes 1st, he goes to New Hampshire as the favorite. Who woulda thunk it? A legitimate path to nomination success.

That said, old wounds over immigration, and a surprisingly healthy Giuliani organization will likely prevent that. But he's in the game.

6. Ron Paul- 70-1

Ron Paul fever is sweeping the nation!!! If you don't believe us, just read the comments sections on any blog in the country. Will it manifest itself in Iowa???

Nah.

7. Tom Tancredo- 75-1

Those commercials are...uh......provocative? (ahem...racist...ahem)

8. Duncan Hunter- 99-1

Why is he still on debate stages?

The Cooler line will be updated every week between now and caucus day.

Senor Huckflop

2007-12-06T15:27:00.000-06:00

Was bound to happen.

Huckabee with a shameful, brazen flip-flop today on immigration. His "Secure America Plan" includes the following.

"Propose to provide all illegal immigrants a 120-day window to register with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and leave the country. Those who register and return to their home country will face no penalty if they later apply to immigrate or visit; those who do not will be caught and barred from future reentry for 10 years."

Whatever happened to the "God's children" talk Huckabee was spewing at the you-tube debate?? Might he be pandering to the Iowa caucus-goer??

The Speech

2007-12-06T15:11:00.000-06:00

The biggest speech that any candidate R or D was going to give this primary season happened today in College Station, Texas. Governor Romney was eloquent in sections, and sounded the right note with this line in particular:

No candidate should become the spokesman for his faith. For if he becomes President he will need the prayers of the people of all faiths.

Most importantly the reviews are in and they are positive. Halperin- Consensus "He did it" "Unqualified, rave reviews" from the folks at MSNBC. His Drudge advantage pays off with banner headlines throughout the day.

What kind of effect will it have in Iowa? The Romney camp hopes it will allay any misgivings Iowans might have about his faith. Did he achieve that today? Unlikely, but that's hard to say.

What is not disputable is that he owned a news cycle, with nearly all positive coverage, 28 days from the caucus. Which makes this a winning day for his camp without a doubt.

NB- For a good laugh, check out Hugh Hewitt's take. I hope he wasn't too sore after writing that. We remember a past Cooler dispute over the term "fluffer." I think he now officially qualifies!

It's a Cooler Comeback- And this time we're SERIOUS

2007-12-06T14:36:00.000-06:00

Alright minions, this is the deal.

It's been 7 months. Iowa is still without a good, entertaining, process based, campaign-centric, center-right, Republican blog (No offense Mr. Vice-Chair). And we have only 28 short days until the Iowa Caucus.

We at the Cooler think that Hawkeye GOP Hacks need something to keep them entertained. Something to distract them from all of the annoying autodials. An oasis from the cold winter.

You deserve a gd BLOG.

And we are going to give it to you.

It's a shame that the political community couldn't exercise enough restraint, judgment, and integrity to allow Krusty and the Cooler to flourish. But that's the past. The future is 4 weeks of bareknuckle political intrigue. And if you want to know what's REALLY happening in the lead-up to the Iowa Republican Caucuses, this will be the only place to get it.

While we will remain anonymous, we have our own opinions, favorites ,and non-favorites. Most importantly, we think that there is something contributed by a forum such as this.

One thing of note for our former readers, and this is a fact: The authors of this blog DO NOT work for any presidential campaign. But if the Romney campaign wants to dump some cash in our paypal account, that would be great--- you all seem to have $$$ to burn...

With that, send us your tips, opposition research, clips, and anything else you deem relevant and we'll consider. For those that forgot it's caucuscoolertipjar@gmail.com.

What we won't consider is the personal slander that brought this blog down in the past, so keep it clean.

And that's a warning to all you Presidential campaigns as well, because you better believe we'll be blowing the whistle on shady tactics, emails, and other activity that dishonors the caucus process or misrepresents candidates, campaigns, or staffs.

The Cooler line WILL be updated later today or first thing in the morning.
The Cooler WILL have a take on "The Speech"
The Cooler WILL have fun exclusive Iowa news

So check back. Time's running short.

Should be a fun month, it is good to be back.

Don’t Call it a Comeback

2007-05-06T23:04:00.000-05:00

You know we got pretty bored with blogging around the Cooler after a while. So we took a bit of a breather. Sorry for the lack of notice. But we are back, rejuvenated and prepared to take on the caucus. Honestly, what would you have done without us?

Now that the pleasantries are out of the way we have a big debate tonight on the GOP side so you can’t count on the Cooler for thoughts and reactions after its complete. But before we get to that, here’s a recap of what’s happened since we’ve been gone.

Gilmore called the big 3 “Rudy McRomney”
McCain joked about bombing Iran in song.
McCain took a nose dive in the national polls and took the lead in the IA,NH, SC troika
Romney talked at great length about how he hunted a couple of varmints
Romney named Battlefield Earth and the Bible as his two favorite books
Romney sent out some DVD’s and gained some mo’ mo’ mo’ mentum in the polls
Rudy talked about the War on Terror
Rudy took a big lead in the polls, until Fred Thompson came in and he came back to earth
Fred is the new candidate du jour
The 2nd tier became the 3rd tier and there is no 2nd tier except maybe Newt or Fred
Tommy Thompson made some racial jokes
John Cox got locked out of the debates
Rudy signed on, Lundby and Joy Corning. He’s eventually going to find a soco supporter in Iowa we are assuming.
Romney announced IA college students, a good chunk of county chairs, Debi Durham, and Marv Pomerantz
McCain announced on Jeff Lamberti, Greg Ganske, veterans, a handful of county chairs
Tommy Thompson still has Grubbs
David Yepsen is starting to like Rudy
Brownback, Giuliani (supposedly), Thompson, Tancredo all have Iowa offices.
Grassley said on Iowa Press “aw shucks they’re all good”
Krusty put the comments up then took them down then back up then down then up again.

Everybody feel caught up now? See you tomorrow around the Cooler.

US News: McCain Makes It Official

2007-04-25T09:57:00.000-05:00

By Kenneth T. Walsh

"John McCain has been running for president a long time, so it might strike voters as a bit strange that he is just now getting around to 'formally' announcing his candidacy. But that's the way campaigns work these days. It's about PR.

McCain will be looking to reinvigorate his image when he begins his announcement tour in New Hampshire on Wednesday and proceeds to South Carolina on Thursday, Iowa on Friday, and Nevada on Saturday, ending that afternoon in his home state of Arizona."

CBN’s Brody File Blog: Rudy Vs The Democrats

2007-04-25T09:54:00.000-05:00

By David Brody
Video

Now playing the part of George W. Bush: Rudy Giuliani. Watch his speech yesterday in New Hampshire. He's in rare form blasting the Democrats on national security. This is the winning ticket for Giuliani. Stay away from social issues and go with the leadership thing.

Reaction to Supreme Court Ruling on Partial Birth Abortion

2007-04-19T07:23:00.000-05:00

We’ve posted before about the degree to which an issue as basic as life will play a role in the 2008 GOP nomination battle. The Supreme Court today upheld by a 5-4 margin the ban on partial birth abortion thanks to the votes of new Supreme Court judges Alito and Roberts. Two 08ers are already out with statements.

McCain- "Today's Supreme Court ruling is a victory for those who cherish the sanctity of life and integrity of the judiciary. The ruling ensures that an unacceptable and unjustifiable practice will not be carried out on our innocent children. It also clearly speaks to the importance of nominating and confirming strict constructionist judges who interpret the law as it is written, and do not usurp the authority of Congress and state legislatures. As we move forward, it is critically important that our party continues to stand on the side of life."

Tommy T "I commend the United States Supreme Court for upholding the nation’s ban on partial-birth abortions. This decision sends a clear message that the United States values life and has no tolerance for this gruesome, abhorrent way to take a life. There is no place for partial-birth abortions in this country, and I am pleased the court upheld the law passed by Congress."

Brownback chimes in as well
I am very pleased that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled to uphold the ban on partial birth abortions,” said Brownback. “This ban was enacted to put an end to one of the most grotesque forms of abortion, and it is completely in line with the respect for life that is at the very heart of our Constitution. This is a great step forward for our nation’s citizens, born and unborn.”

And Romney… (Somebody’s missing)

"Today, our nation's highest court reaffirmed the value of life in America by upholding a ban on a practice that offends basic human decency. This decision represents a step forward in protecting the weakest and most innocent among us."

Will be interesting to see what if anything Rudy says on this as well. His abortion stance got some major scrutiny from a friend to the Cooler, Mr. Todd Dorman. Here’s the lead.
DES MOINES - Republican presidential hopeful Rudy Giuliani is asking for a truce with conservatives over abortion.

Good luck.

The full story can be seen here.

Flash:

Last but not least is Rudy. Kinda brief from hizzoner.

“The Supreme Court reached the correct conclusion in upholding the ban on partial birth abortion. I agree with it.”

We feel compelled to point out the difference between that and this quote from meet the press a couple years back…

“I would vote to preserve that option [of partial birth abortion] for women.”

Cattle Callin'

2007-04-17T11:34:00.000-05:00

So we’ve been sitting around thinking about how to review the Lincoln Day “Not so much Unity” Dinner and have had a lot of trouble. We thought about giving you our fave speeches in decending order but decided against (If you really care we thought the following people gave good speeches in order: Romney, Tancredo, Brownback, McCain and the following made us want to give the speaker a swirlie: Gilmore, Thompson). We thought about letting our correspondent give an anecdote filled report. But he/she/it decided they didn’t want to take notes. We thought about just doing an ode to the Fair Tax booth, but decided that would be inappropriate on a family blog. But in the end we figured those that read the Cooler were there and it was a marathon, so we’re not going to give you a marathon recap. If you weren’t there and want a recap the following links are the best ones to hit.

The FAB-U-LOUS Jonathan Martin blog. (If we were better at blogging, we would have done what he did)

Register Part 1 and Part2.

(We mostly want to point you to these stories because we like to gloat and they each hit on 2 things we’ve been saying at the Cooler for months. McCain’s the only guy with the guts to take on Iraq and Romney’s organization is the crème de la crème)

The WashPost

And our buddy Krusty Konservative

And if you are wondering why comments are gone. You didn’t read the crap that was dumped on a good guy under the last post. We’ll reopen at some point…

Radio

2007-04-11T13:15:00.000-05:00

Tom Tancredo is running ads on the Randy Renshaw show that is all about…IMMIGRATION (surprise). The most interesting part, “John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, and Mitt Romney all support amnesty.” Slam.

Also Fred Thompson is clearly thinking about running. Why else would you make an announcement about your lymphoma?

McCain on Iraq

2007-04-09T09:24:00.000-05:00

John McCain's recent trip to Iraq has received a ton of press coverage. Initial media reports were very critical of McCain. McCain struck back with an editorial in the Washington Post yesterday and made an appearance on "60 Minutes" last night. Later this week, McCain will give a speech on Iraq at Virginia Military Institute.

McCain's candidacy is more closely linked to Iraq than any other candidate in the Presidential race. It will be very interesting to see how his speech is received this week.

CNN's Political Ticker Blog: Giuliani Stands By Support Of Publicly-Funded Abortions

2007-04-04T15:17:00.000-05:00

CNN's Political Blog has the details, but a small sample is below.

"TALLAHASSEE, Florida (CNN) -- Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told CNN Wednesday he supports public funding for some abortions, a position he advocated as mayor and one that will likely put the GOP presidential candidate at odds with social conservatives in his party.

'Ultimately, it's a constitutional right, and therefore if it's a constitutional right, ultimately, even if you do it on a state by state basis, you have to make sure people are protected,' Giuliani said in an interview with CNN's Dana Bash in Florida's capital city.

A video clip of the then-mayoral candidate issuing a similar declaration in 1989 in a speech to the 'Women's Coalition' appeared recently on the Internet.

'There must be public funding for abortions for poor women,' Giuliani says in the speech that is posted on the video sharing site YouTube. 'We cannot deny any woman the right to make her own decisions about abortion.'

When asked directly Wednesday if he still supported the use of public funding for abortions, Giuliani said 'Yes.'"

Rudy Recap

2007-04-04T10:48:00.000-05:00

We’ll pass it over to our Cooler correspondent who was live at Valley High last evening:

I got to the school at about 620 which I thought was going to be a little bit late since the invitation said the doors open at 530. Turns out I was early because America’s Mayor wasn’t going to grace the stage for quite sometime. As I was driving in I thought it was funny to see Dave Loebsack, John Edwards, Barack Obama, and Chet Culver stickers on 3 different cars in the parking lot.. I guess they are checking out the competition. When I arrived at the school I thought for a second I was in the wrong place because there were so many young people there. A couple dozen people looked like they were barely old enough to drive, more or less vote, and a lot of twenty-somethings as well. This was not the typical GOP crowd. Most GOP events I’ve gone to require an AARP card for entry. just milled about for the next half hour or so chatting with a few folks I know. It was a little annoying that we had to stand, I’m getting lazy in my old age. Most of the folks I talked to were there because of the “curiosity factor” that surrounds Rudy and his 9/11 mystique. By gametime I’d guess there were about 400 people or so there, but I give the same caveat that I did in the McCain and Romney recaps- I’m not a professional guesstimater… The room had a lot of hand-painted signs that said things like “America’s Mayor” and “Go Rudy Go” etc..

Rudy finally got on stage about an hour after he was supposed to and he got right into it. As he walked up to the stage a group of kids started one of the weakest “Rudy Rudy” chants I’ve ever heard. The Romney guys did much better at this. (Is there a cheering section competition at the straw poll? Maybe there should be.) Rudy’s speech was far more fiery/animated than McCain’s and quite a bit more than Romney’s was. This was what I would call a traditional rally speech as opposed to a policy address or a townhall meeting (conversation as HILLARY! would call it). Rudy talked about leadership, 9-11, and fiscal issues mostly. He covered the social issues by saying (this quote is rough) “I’m not going to stand up here and tell you what you want to hear, that would be you leading me.” He asked that people look at his record a couple of times. He called himself the true fiscal conservative in the race. He ended up by telling us that there were a lot of issues he hadn’t covered and he’d be back to go over those. He listed off education, health care, and gun control among them. Then he finished the speech and took no questions. All in all he was up there for about 20 minutes.

While I thought it was a good speech, it was very very very impersonal. I definitely didn’t leave there feeling like I had met Rudy. That was much more the feeling after McCain’s event and to a lesser extent Romney as well. We bustled back out into the cold (everytime I do one of these things the weather is terrible) and I headed down to one of the new restaurants over by Jordan Creek for a beer. All in all, not a bad night.

There you have it. Other news that came from Rudy’s trip.

Jim Nussle called the straw poll a “circus” and Rudy wouldn’t commit to participating.
In Cedar Rapids Rudy saw many of the same things he did in Queens (according to Rudy) and he walked through the neighborhood discussing revitalization. Rudy also met with legislators and did an interview with Radio Iowa’s Kay Henderson. Head over to her blog and check it out. Kay also reported on a rude welcome Rudy received from some Iowa social conservatives.

That’s all we have from Rudy’s first big day in Iowa.

The Final Money Tally

2007-04-03T12:03:00.000-05:00

Romney 23 mil
Rudy 15 mil
McCain 12.5 mill
Brownback 2 mil
Tancredo 1 mil
Huckabee 500K

Good day for Mitt, not so much McCain and the Huckster..

We’ll have a recap of Rudy’s first trip to Iowa tomorrow.

Show Me The Money

2007-04-02T18:11:00.000-05:00

Looking like a good day for camp Romney… In primary dollars, Mitt outraises Hillary.
Impressive.

Line Change!

2007-04-01T22:01:00.000-05:00

Ok so we are a little late to the party on Fred Thompson. Color us a little bit skeptical about his candidacy. That being said, numbers don’t lie, and the most recent ARG poll shows America’s TV Prosecutor running 3rd in Iowa.

So Thompson jumps onto the Cooler line in the 6th slot at 25-1. Like Newt his odds are reduced by a) the likelihood that he won’t run and b) the fact that even if he does run, he has no Iowa organization to speak of.. That being said he has the name ID, he has a record that could be argued is more conservative than any of those above him on the Cooler line (not definitively). If for no other reason than to spice things up over the next few months, count the Cooler among those who hope Fred dips his toe in the water and does some campaigning in the Hawkeye.

In other line change news, Mike Huckabee dips from 16-1 to 24-1 because of rumblings that he might not be in this race for the long haul. Huckabee visited Western Iowa recently to very little fanfare and he has made no noise in the endorsement/staffing areas since he added Bob Vander Plaats and Danny Carroll over a month ago. Combine that with the rumors circling that he’ll be running for Senate in Arkansas instead and his strength seems to be diminishing in Iowa. If he doesn’t start to pick up momentum soon, he’ll be surpassed by the hard working Tommy Thompson.

On the agenda for the rest of the week: RUDY makes his inaugural visit in Iowa- the Cooler correspondent will be back for that, Tommy announces his bid formally in Des Moines, Mitt has a grand opening, and we’re two weeks away from the Abraham Lincoln Spring Showdown…

The Caucus Cooler

Check out this new economic education blog

Predictions!!

Anti Romney Dirty Tricks in IA

Mr. Mo

80,000 is the magic number

Richardson to send 2nd Choicers to Obama

I've put a spell on you

Report Live from Your Precinct Caucus

Final Line Change

Doug Gross on Turnout

Glover with a must-must-must reader on which counties to watch tomorrow.

A Wakonda Sized Slam

Odds & Ends

Raucus!!!

Poll Madness

Chingy Would Be Proud

Politico picks up on Cooler story

Ambers is on it

New Poll

Line Change!

Light Blogging

The Dean

John McCain for President

Gifts for All

Quad City Times- Time for A Real Hero

Sioux City Journal Endorses Romney

Governor Graft- Update

COOLER EXCLUSIVE- "Governor Graft"

Romney's drunk dialing us

Logan IA's "Herald Observer" endorses Mccain

Condi!

Housekeeping items

WHO v. Mitt Part 2

WHO vs. Mitt Romney- What it means

Tancredo Endorses Romney; Rudy is sick

New IA/NH Polls

Huckabee at Jordan Creek

Another new Iowa poll

Thompson announces statewide leadership team

Romney blasts Huckabee through the mail

Look who's 3rd...

We know this is an Iowa blog but

New Iowa Poll

Craig Robinson's Huckabee Yard Sign

Line Change!

Huckabee religious imagery

New IA ads

What does it all mean?

It's Fred!

Ambers interviews Branstad

Monday Morning Linkage (Basically just read 'The Page' edition)

Steve King endorsement coming tomorrow

Mitt on Meet

JSM and HRC

COOLER EXCLUSIVE- Huckabee's Pet Project

Weekend Linkage

The New National Frontrunner

Two new Iowa polls show Huckabee ahead

What about Rudy?

Old Rudy on Immigration

Morning Linkage

More on Washburn

Jake Tapper on Adamson scandal

Mr. Magoo

SHOCK- Debate Moderator a Registered Dem

Live Bloggish

GAMEDAY!!

More on Huck

From Adamson to Huckabee

Against the Grain

COOLER EXCLUSIVE- Why "The Speech" Mattered

Winter Wonderland Potpourri

Graciously Submissive

The Romney Ad

Mitt goes on offense

Various Huckabee Items

Sunday School

How did the story about Jesus and the man with leprosy go again??

Line Change! (Holy F****** S*** Edition)

Line Change! (Holy F**** S* Edition)