Actually, the 2004 Iowa Caucus was pretty close. Kerry won a plurality, not a majority, by targeting and turning out Vietnam veterans (ironic, in light of what happened later). Kerry, Edwards and Dean each received over 30 per cent of the vote.

And, with no smile at all (or a gentle one), let me say that Iowa Democrats love Richardson, and think pretty highly of Dodd and Biden, too. They may not win, but they're well respected, and in any normal year would be strong candidates.

Iowa is the archetypal purple state, tending more to mauve or cerise or something. Kerry lost it to Bush in '04 because his people (read Shrum and the DLC) told him not to bother campaigning in Steve King's Fifth District, a crucial error that is now part of Iowa political textbooks. Just because the bigots are loud doesn't mean there aren't a lot of good people there, and they would have come out for Kerry if asked.

In '06, Democrats captured the governorship and control of both houses of the legislature and, thanks to Howard Dean's 50 state policy, the Congressional delegation went from 80% Republican to 60% Democratic. Local Dems are afraid that a Clinton victory will have a reverse coattail effect, though, here and in similar states like Minnesota, Kansas, Indiana, etc., and a strengthened DLC will bypass Dean and write him out of future campaigns. Then we'll be back to red.

Hold the Iowa Caucus on the 14th, if not later, and New Hampshire on the 21st, with the rest in February.

The 14th will be bad enough for Obama; only two Iowa universities are in session then, Iowa State and (the huge) Luther College. None are in session on the 3rd or 5th, which will be taken up with TV football and high school basketball. Anything earlier than the 21st will likely be a guaranteed win for Hillary, leaving an open door for the Republican candidate.

We already know this is the plan of the Republican-controlled Florida legislature. Why are we letting them define us?

One more victory for the WTO/CFR Bilderburger cabal.

Interesting discussion of kinaesthenia (the association of words, colors, numbers, etc. with unusual sensory stimuli) without ever mentioning the term. Musicians, in particular, are often known to mentally compose in colors, rather than notes.

But the important question: does this mean that "moisturizer," apparently the second-best selling woman's product, is a dead commodity?

As for approved terminology, Victorianism and Feminism were going hand in hand long before it was PC to come out. Check "The Language Police" by Diane Ravitch.

Any doubt, reading these posts, that it's not sexual?

Okay, worse than "moist sputum:" dry sputum.

(and is still around), although Clapton did a pretty good imitation. But you should hear Guy's imitation of Clapton. And Hendrix. Hilarious, and eerie, like a snake eating its own tail. Clapton, who's done more to popularize the real blues through his Crossroads Guitar Festival, among other activities, than anyone outside of the Smithsonian, likely would agree.

"It's a major of driveway philosophers" as in, that's their university, they've majored in driveway. No additional word needed.

Actually, the whole thing is a joke, or a magnificent disconnect from fifty years ago. Those "driveway philosophers" (who actually prefer to sit in the open doors of their garages, the preferred male meeting room outside of a bar) all have laptops. The tractors, which look like something from another world, all have wi-fi access. It's a bizarre combination of influences, but no less connected than New York, and apparently (if you judge by some of Salon, like judging Iowa from pieces like this) more connected than San Francisco.

The caucus turnout is low compared to a primary vote, but shouldn't be compared; there are no absentee ballots, you actually have to show up, sit in a room and argue. Not to everybody's taste, but those who do it are inevitably better informed than the average voter. Not that there aren't ways to game it; Kerry did it in '04 with (ironically) Vietnam veterans who immediately went back into the woodwork, and Hillary, with the same advisors, is trying the same tactic this year with women.

If something isn't done, though, this may be the last year you'll have Iowa to kick around. Jan. 3 is two weeks too early to do meaningful organizing; even the veterans aren't sure what to do with this mess. Moving the whole thing back to the middle of January would make no difference to the process, while allowing the same vetting to go on. And, no mistake, Iowans are good at parsing the Shinola from the other stuff. That's why Edwards is so popular here.

And please take it from a former, and current, Dean supporter: Howard defeated himself. A great American, organizer and theoretician, and God help us if he loses his influence with the Dems, but not a great candidate. Ask him; he'll agree.

Iowa only went for Bush, narrowly, in '04, because Kerry's advisors told him to write off the entire western half of the state, which is conservative but not uniformly so. Gore won it in '00 with a full-state strategy, in defiance of DLC ideas. In '06, Democrats took the Governor's office, control of both houses of the Legislature, and 60% of the Congressional seats. That's makes Iowa purple, tending to violet.