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The Iowa Caucus Postmortem

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The Iowa caucus is a weird thing, no doubt.  The 2020 Democratic Iowa Caucus is considered a mess. It should be noted that the Democrat caucus was a ranked choice vote that added a wrinkle in the process and with so many candidates that year was probably never going to do smooth. The Caucus is weird though. I defend it on the basis that if forces politicians to interact with the public. That’s important.  I do think maybe there is something about viability from it on the Democratic side (Iowa loved Obama and disliked Hillary which both seem prescient) but on the Republican side the nation is out of step with Iowa (Huckabee, Santorum, Cruz). The idea of the caucus is to discuss politics with like minded neighbors and I think many have experienced that.  Here’s the thing though and I won’t say it’s not weird. It’s a physical act. You have a time to show up and vote. It is not an election where you vote between 8 and 8. You have to show up at a certain time (6:30 was the p...
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The Loneliness of the Long Distance Governor

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  Here’s the thing about the Iowa caucuses.    It’s kind of a crap shoot. For every story of a Pete Buttigieg or Barack Obama or even a Vivek Ramaswamy that came out of nowhere, there are also plenty of stories where things didn’t go that way.  There’s Joe Sestak in the 2020 election cycle who moved to a Des Moines hotel but never broke one percent in polling. Or in the same cycle, New York City mayor Bill DeBlasio who famously had a rally reported with only 15 attendees (and would recieve zero votes in the statewide Des Moines Register poll).  No one can always guess what makes one candidate catch fire and another strike out. It might be Rick Santorum’s fault for this kind of hopeless optimism. Santorum was polling at around 10% only two months before the 2012 Iowa Caucus- but he campaigned furiously and ultimately won the state.  The 2024 Caucus was no different. Candidates like Tim Scott and Mike Pence dropped out even though they occasionally broke ten ...
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Caucus Byte: That’s Gotta be Kane

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  I write about the Iowa Caucuses.    Yes, I am writing after the recent Caucus took place, but here’s the thing- I am not here for insight. I am here for some fun The reason I like the Caucuses is because it pushes politicians to be human. My argument for the Caucus is without it, maybe that interaction goes away.  But when politicians act like humans, that is where the fun begins.  Today, I am highlighting one of the last Trump rallies in Indianola, Iowa.  First, you need to know something about Glen Jacobs.  Jacobs is best known for being a wrestler named Kane.  After a series of failed gimmicks like wrestling villain dentist Isaac Yankem DDS (I Yankem, get it?), Unabomb and the Christmas Creature, Kane became a Hall of Fame wrestler from the last vestiges of an era of wacky and weird storylines that came to an end when wrestlers like the Rock, Goldberg and Stone Cold Steve Austin changed things forever.  Kane was a horror movie style mons...
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TV Casualty

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Politics move fast. I like to write about the Iowa Caucus but I didn’t get to do it as much as I liked this go around.   That said, I write about stuff I find amusing or interesting so it’s not like it’s insightful. I may still write everything post- Caucus date. It isn’t like it needs to be timely. But I have got backlogged writing about the campaign ads which Whoo Doggy are fun this year  Check these out  Vivek Ramaswamy Right Notes Vivek stuck to personal appearances instead of ads, but he did run this one.  In the day of negative ads, I am starting with this one which features Vivek’s childhood piano teacher. There really isn’t anything more soul stirring patriotic than a kid playing piano. It just is. Reminds me of when Van Cliburn took 14% of the vote from Nixon in the 1960 Republican Race  Nikki Haley Role Model  This one is an anti-Haley ad from a DeSantis PAC and it’s Haley saying that Hillary Clinton is the reason she got into politics...
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October/November Caucus Check In

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  I write about the fun of the Iowa Caucus and as you may have noticed, the fun (like the candidates) is dwindling School board elections saw a big loss for the Moms of Liberty in Des Moines (of course) the progressive suburbs(probably) the rich suburbs (surprise), the rural counties (shock) and even Western Iowa (say what).  It’s    still early, so I don’t feel like I have heard a lot of buzz.    If there is any buzz, it’s been around Ron DeSantis who is seemingly so far away at Trump at this point, I’m not sure it matters.  On the TV front, Trump is attacking DeSantis (the presumable second place candidate) and DeSantis attacking Haley (presuming attacking Trump won’t move any needles.) Vivek Ramaswamy is running ads which are like him, perhaps the most dynamic of the campaign. In it, he attacks politicians while a variety of bipartisan images of run behind him.  Fox News reports: Republican presidential candidate  Vivek Ramaswamy  is ...
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