Our friend Robert is on the campaign trail in Iowa this week. What follows is a brief note that he just left in the comments section. I found the part about the moving of primary dates to be particularly interesting. If it’s true that Edwards is looking good in Iowa, it only makes sense that Clinton would do everything in her power to make that particular contest appear less significant.
Rove and his people just need it to be close enough to fix. Most people have made up their minds on Hillary, and an election with her as the Democratic candidate would almost certainly be close.
Why do you people keep talking about Kerry as though his campaigned failed? The only serious thing they failed at doing was making sure there wouldn’t be massive election fraud in Ohio, not to mention the half dozen other states where it was obviously a determining factor in which way the electoral votes were delivered.
Now the Gulianni, Clinton and to some degree Obama camps are trying to pressure their people in Michigan to move that primary up ahead of Iowa’s caucus and New Hampshire’s primary. Edwards is ahead in Nevada, and I am seeing more and more indications that he is ahead here in Iowa.
The manager of Edward’s Council Bluffs office told me yesterday that he believes it’s a move force Iowa to move their caucus up even earlier. In his opinion, their strategy is to be able to claim that Iowa is too early to be relevant.
It’s really hard to gauge how Republicans here are going to vote in their caucus, but I the feeling Rudy’s personal life doesn’t play well with these heartlanders.Another scary development is happening in California, where Republicans are trying to break up the electoral votes awarded in the general. If they succeed, you can forget about any Democrat winning in 2008.
I just hope that the Edwards team is able to play hardball with these folks.
21 Comments
Robert, did you mean to say New Hampshire when you said Nevada?
No, I said it right, unfortunately. I was just talking about lowly Nevada. They have an early caucus too. It’s actually just 5 days after Iowa’s, and 3 days before the New Hampshire primary. Nobody places too much importance on what happens in Nevada though. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas I guess.
Well, things in Iowa are pretty good. There’s a nice energy in the campaign here, and it’s fun to hang out with all the high-energy, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed campaigners. However, they have little use for me here. The Iowa campaign is pretty much at saturation point. So I will be moving on…to California, where the fundraising efforts are the focus, and where they can always use more help.
While I’m in California, I thought I might also see if I can get a hold of any of the key witnesses and researchers in the RFK assassination. Then I’ll have some material to really bore the shit out of you people.
Edwards arrived in LA and did a little fund-raising swing through the area. Things went pretty well. Edwards seems to me to be hitting a good stride in his speeches at the moment. He was open, direct, and sincere in his comments and response to questions put to him by the contributors in attendance.
I got sunburned and think I might be falling in love with the neighbor of my host in Hermosa Beach. Ah, California…
A recent poll from Time magazine of likely Iowa caucus goers shows Edwards with a commanding lead over his rivals:
Edwards 29%
Clinton 24%
Obama 22%
Robert, big ups for goin on the road for politics. I did NH in 2000 to meet Bradley and had a lot of fun. The NH political mindset is pretty amazing.
All due respect, but how is a 5 point lead, in a poll where the margin is +/-5, a commanding lead?
A toss up, maybe. It’s more likely that since Edwards more or less has lived in IA for the last several months, that he’s on the low end of that +/- calculation.
Disclaimer: I’m not a Democrat (or a Republican for that matter) and I have full faith that the Dems will figure out a new and amazing way to blow this election. If, that is, they don’t just flat out roll over when it counts, as they did in the last 2 races.
dp, it isn’t really a ‘commanding’ lead. I just thought it was funny to throw that in. I’m usually the only person who understands my sense of humor.
Ahh yes, the loss of humor/sarcasm in text. I’m well acquainted =-)
Safe travels!
Des Moines is giving me a whole new appreciation for Toledo.
I have to make a correction here. Since talking to a few people in the Michigan Obama campaign and seeing how issues have developed there, it seems clear it wasn’t actual Obama supporters who joined in the primary sham there. I suggested earlier that some Obama people seemed to be supporting it. I now realize they are not actually Obama supporters. A bunch of party loyalists are acting as Obama organizers in order to help suppress and head off activity which might get Obama a win in Michigan. Don’t believe me? Check it out yourself. If you want to get a first hand education on how diabolical political campaigning can get, go out and try to join the Obama Campaign in Michigan. I’ll be shocked if the Detroit get-out-the-vote machine isn’t completely suppressed on primary day.
Well, I reluctantly dragged my ass back to Iowa after spending Thanksgiving in Indianapolis. But now I’m so glad I did. I’ve been hanging out with actress Madeline Stowe, making phone calls and doing mailings. Damn! As beautiful as she appears on TV and in movies, she is ten times as striking in person. She is also extraordinarily intelligent and insightful.
John Edwards is continuing to express a message filled with moral outrage and blunt honesty. It’s strange to see at times. I feel like most people don’t quite get what he’s talking about, but sense he’s an honest and decent man.
TV and film actress Jean Smart flew in to town to spend a few days campaigning for John Edwards as well. She’s lovely, smart, and very quick witted. It was fun having her around.
What about Betty White? And Phillis Diller?
For that matter, Tim Robbins is also coming out here Wednesday to campaign for Edwards. He’s lovely as well.
As I type this, Kevin Bacon stands before me at the front desk of the Edwards campaign office here in Des Moines. I’m a giddy as a little girl. I told him it took me a long time to forgive him for “Footloose” but I’ve come around.
Hang in there, Robert!
NPR today was saying that Edwards is making gains. As the Obama/Clinton boy vs. bitch battle plays out, Edwards is making more and more common sense to Iowans.
Yes, like I’ve been saying, the Edwards campaign looks to me to be the most focused on the actual task of winning delegates in this caucus.
The only thing that concerns me with this organization is that they seem to have blinders on. After speaking with the campaign manager, state director, and one strategist, I get the impression that these people have no idea how serious what they are doing actually is. From that, I would expect them to be caught by surprise by likely dirty tricks, sabotage and other attacks.
We really need the volunteers out here. We’re getting a surge of new supporters, and we need help keeping on top of things. Some older caucus goers want help getting to their sites, and many need help figuring out where their sites are. We also need help getting all the reminder door-hangers and calls out before the eve before the caucus. Please send re-enforcements. Call us here at the Des Moines headquarters for more info. Our number is (515)288-0766.
Thanks again Robert. I can’t come to Iowa, but, if Michigan ever matters in this election, I’d really like you to school me on how this unsightly political game works so I better pimp for JRE around town.
I’m trying to put together a united front for “Uncommitted” in Michigan. I’d like to see if we can get people out on January 15th in a mass protest vote. A vote for “Uncommitted” is a vote against the status quo. It’s a vote against government waste (this empty primary is costing the Michigan taxpayer $10,000,000!) It’s a vote which would tell the cynical politicians and political strategists that we want to speak for ourselves, and we don’t need them telling us what we want and feel. It’s a vote to send the message that we want our government back, and we want our country back.
This fouled-up primary represents perfectly the stupidity, waste and cynicism of the political leadership we’ve been getting over the past several years. If we want to, we can take this otherwise meaningless primary and turn it into a public statement by the people. We have to spread the word that this primary vote in Michigan is an opportunity for the people of our state to voice a resounding “NO” to the politicians’ question, “Do we want to continue with business as usual?”
For years there have been efforts to place “None Of The Above” as one of the choices on our election ballots. those efforts are always blocked. They’re blocked because the politicians fear the embarrassment of seeing clearly what the voters really think of them. I suspect that, if voters had that option, they would vote “None Of The Above” in election after election, because of the gross dissatisfaction we are all feeling with the kind of leadership we have been getting lately.
How many of you out there will join me in this effort?
Let’s talk after Iowa.