November 29, 2007

• Iowa

  The eyes of the media, and, therefore, the eyes of America, are focused on Iowa at the moment because of the imminent Iowa caucuses.  Think about the ironic absurdity of that.

  
  

  Iowa ranks 30, among the 50 states, in population.  With only about 3 million people, that, in itself, pretty much makes it a backwater in the United States.  There are several cities in this country that have metropolitan areas quite a bit larger than that.

  
  

  Voters in Iowa choose their delegates to the national conventions of the various political parties at caucuses, not elections.  These caucuses are like town-hall style meetings in various precincts where people have to go and spend 2 or 3 hours arguing about, and voting for whom, they want to represent them at the conventions.  The caucuses for this election cycle are scheduled for the evening of January 3rd, when people are still recovering from the holidays and when it's sure to be freezing cold outside.  And those people won't be voting for president.  They'll only be voting for delegates to the national conventions.  The various candidates have been spending millions of dollars and untold man-hours in that state, and all of that strikes me as, well, crazy.

  
  

  Among Republicans, Mit Romney has been focusing his resources on Iowa for months.  That, in itself, pretty much lets me know I don't want that man leading the only Super Power in the world, but his focus on Iowa seems to be losing ground.  Today, the NYT has an article, the lede of which says,

  
  

  
  

  The religious divide over Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith that his supporters had long feared would occur is emerging in Iowa as he is being challenged in state polls by Mike Huckabee, a former Baptist pastor who has played up his faith in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.  Source.

  
  

  Apparently, the Evangelicals think Mormons aren't really Christians.  In fact, the article says,

  
  

  
  

  Mr. Huckabee’s rise in Iowa — some recent polls now put him in a dead heat with Mr. Romney, who had led surveys for months — has been fueled by evangelical Christians, who believe Mormonism runs counter to Christian orthodoxy.

  
  

  Although Mr. Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, has been able to make inroads among the evangelicals, an influential voting bloc in the state, interviews with Mr. Huckabee’s supporters make clear that a sizable number are distinctly uncomfortable with Mr. Romney’s religion and cite it as a major reason they would not vote for him in the state’s Jan. 3 caucuses.

  
  

  On Monday, Mr. Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, raised the stakes when he began broadcasting an advertisement in Iowa that emphasizes his faith and declares him to be a “Christian leader” — all in capital letters — which some might view as a shot at Mr. Romney.

  
  

  It's incredibly ironic to me that we have allowed the media to turn a place like Iowa, which doesn't even hold an election to choose its delegates to the national conventions, into such a central focus in what is undoubtably the most important election in this century.

  
  

  ED

  • 10:44 am
  • 4 Comments