Last updated on 2012.03.31
Below are the results of the vote-buying at yesterday's big Iowa GOP straw poll:
| Place | Candidate | Votes | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Michele Bachmann | 4,823 | 28.6% |
| 2 | Ron Paul | 4,671 | 27.7% |
| 3 | Tim Pawlenty | 2,293 | 13.6% |
| 4 | Rick Santorum | 1,657 | 9.8% |
| 5 | Herman Cain | 1,456 | 8.6% |
| 6 | Rick Perry (write-in) | 718 | 4.3% |
| 7 | Mitt Romney | 567 | 3.4% |
| 8 | Newt Gingrich | 385 | 2.3% |
| 9 | Jon Huntsman | 69 | 0.4% |
| 10 | Thaddeus McCotter | 35 | 0.2% |
| — | Scattering | 162 | 1.0% |
Tim Pawlenty has already quit. Part of me wants to say, "Tim! Don't give up! You beat two people who were told by God to run!" McCain placed tenth in the 2007 Iowa straw poll, and he still won the nomination. Of course, unlike Pawlenty, McCain didn't try to win the Iowa straw poll.
The Iowa straw poll results have inspired me to imagine a mirror universe in which the Republicans hold the White House and the Iowa straw poll is a battle among Democrats. If those mirror-universe Iowa Dems voted with the equivalent level of rationality and ideology that apparently possessed our Iowa GOP neighbors in this universe, here's what the straw poll results would have looked like:
| Place | Candidate | Votes | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dennis Kucinich | 4,823 | 28.6% |
| 2 | Ralph Nader | 4,671 | 27.7% |
| 3 | Tom Vilsack | 2,293 | 13.6% |
| 4 | Carol Moseley Braun | 1,657 | 9.8% |
| 5 | Alec Baldwin | 1,456 | 8.6% |
| 6 | Gavin Newsom (write-in) | 718 | 4.3% |
| 7 | John Kerry | 567 | 3.4% |
| 8 | Eliot Spitzer | 385 | 2.3% |
| 9 | Deval Patrick | 69 | 0.4% |
| 10 | Cory Heidelberger | 35 | 0.2% |
| — | Scattering | 162 | 1.0% |
The Iowa caucuses take place January 6, 2012. Preliminary Madville Times prediction: Romney, Perry, and Bachmann in a three-way. Perry and Bachmann split the secessionist theocrats, opening the door for a sane Republicans running for the Romeny fire escape to turn their guys 2008 25% into a first-place finish.
Two things, Cory.
a) I think Jon Huntsman is the dark horse in all of this. Could turn out to be the last man standing. and
b) Ron Paul always does win in these things and then always get ignored by everybody? What's up with that?
Today, one of the talking heads on Meet the Press called him a nuisance. I guess that's better than a brain-dead moron, but how come the latter keep getting all the press ink?
All I learned from the ABC coverage of the Iowa straw-brain poll, is that Michelle Bachmann has trouble with the plural and singular criteria and criterion. Or she is unfamiliar with verbs to use with plural and singular subjects.
Also a policy that consists of "attack Obama" seems singularly short of relevant content.
Perry's the one.
I think the "brain dead morons" get the attention because their beliefs and actions are...well strange enough to make news. Think of how some on the extreme edge are grabbing far more attention than most of the solid legislators that make up and have made up the state Republican party. Sadly, the fact that they get attention is misread into legitimacy.
There is much to learn from John Dean's column that was linked here from Dakota Today that explains much of what happened in Iowa and elsewhere.
In the end, the middle of both the right and the left make up a far larger majority than either side of the extremes will ever hope for. Which is good.
Bachmann's campaign manager behind the 'Kill the gays' movement in Uganda.