Tag Archives: Iowa caucus

Nevada Shows Caucus Process Cracked

BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from Mullings.com

The Nevada GOP couldn’t get the votes counted. By halftime of the Superbowl CNN.com was reporting that a full day after the caucuses only 83 percent of the precincts had been recorded.

The Iowa GOP chairman resigned in disgrace after it took nearly two weeks to decide that Rick Santorum, not Mitt Romney had been the winner there. By that time, whatever minor momentum Santorum had gained by “losing” by only eight votes on caucus night had long dissipated and he was but a footnote in the South Carolina story.

The results from Nevada as of 7:50 pm Eastern time last night were:
Mitt Romney – (13,442) 48%
Newt Gingrich – (6,043) 22%
Ron Paul – ( 5,239) 19%
Rick Santorum – (2,952) 11%

I kiddingly Tweeted, after Iowa announced its final ruling, that international observers would be called in to oversee the Iowa caucuses in 2016. Continue reading →

Hardest Job in Town: Boehner’s

BY STEVE BELL

Far from yielding an ambiguous electoral outcome, the Iowa caucuses solidly confirmed the Balkanization of the Republican Party, a fact that will lead to potential electoral failure in 2012 unless neutralized soon. These internal divisions hurt the party’s leadership in Congress in 2011;  they have already improved Democratic chances to retain the Senate, gain substantial seats in the House, and keep the White House in 2012.

Super-imposed on this chaos is a 2012 Congressional legislative schedule that virtually no one on Capitol Hill believes has a snowball’s chance in hell of ever passing.

Let’s take a look at the GOP. Mitt Romney gets a quarter of the vote, what we can call the “competency vote.”  Ron Paul gets  a quarter of the vote, what has been called the “Libertarian” vote, mostly male, mostly an exaggerated macho response to external order, such as a  government provides. Rick Santorum, coupled with the Michelle Bachmann Continue reading →

Three Republican Parties

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

The results from Iowa show one thing very clearly: There are now three, distinct Republican parties.

The mainstream GOP captured about a quarter of the vote in the caucus polls. The social conservatives got about half. The libertarian got about a fifth.

Iowa is a bit skewed towards social conservatives. New Hampshire will show that the mainstream Republicans make up about a third of the party, the social conservatives about a third, while libertarians make up a third.

Mainstream Republicans are business-minded. They are the establishment folks. They are both small business owners and corporate employees. They are the Chamber of Commerce Republicans. They want the government to help business. Some mainstream Republicans are neo-conservative and care about defense issues, but mostly they view the world through the prism of business. Continue reading →

Caucuses & Primaries: Let Them Begin!

BY RICH GALEN
Reprinted from Mullings.com

We know the Iowa Caucuses will be held next Tuesday. A week after that, New Hampshire will hold its primary. What’s the difference?

One week. Very funny. Not counting that.

A caucus…

SIDEBAR
The plural of “Caucus” is not “Caucii,” as someone – probably someone who OD’d on cable news programs over the New Year weekend – will likely say at the Keurig machine with great authority on Tuesday.

Caucus is not a Latin word. According to the Merriam-Webster 3rd Unabridged, the etymology of “caucus” is: probably of Algonquian origin; akin to caucauasu elder, counselor; and was first used in 1760.

END SIDEBAR

… is a meeting of people from the same precinct held at a specific time in a specific place.

Under the GOP rules in Iowa people will go to a site representing one of 1,774 precincts; will check in to ensure they are really registered Republicans in that precinct and not members of the “Occupy the Caucuses” thugs, will listen to people speak on behalf of one candidate or another, and will write the name of the candidate they are supporting on a piece of paper which will be collected in some approved manner.  Continue reading →

Ron Paul Wins With Losing

BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com

In the Feehery family primary, held over the Holidays, Ron Paul won a surprisingly high percentage of votes. While he didn’t win, he had committed delegates who argued forcefully for his positions.

Mitt Romney won the primary, but just barely.

Ron Paul may be a conspiracy theorist. He might be a nut job. He might be a racist, homophobe, anti-semite and a variety of other things that he has been charged with over the last month or so. I don’t know. And I can tell you that the Ron Paul supporters don’t care.

What Ron Paul brings to the equation is the pure philosophy of the populist Republican. He is running against government, which is smart, because the government is less popular than the bubonic plague right now.

He is against the Federal Reserve, which is politically smart, because most Republicans hate Ben Bernanke.

He is against the police state. He wants to legalize drugs, internet gambling and a variety of other victimless crimes.  That fits in with the voters who are sick and tired of cops telling them what to do. Continue reading →