Letters to the Editor
-
Why is Biden dropping out?
I mean, he was in the final five, just one point behind Richardson, it just doesn't make any sense.
-
$$$
I'm looking forward to seeing how many dollars per vote each candidate spent in Iowa.
-
How many of each?
Hey, what I want to know is how many Democrats and how many Republicans voted, and to see those numbers in the context of the Dem/Rep population of the state. That'd give me some idea of the strength of the Democratic turnout versus the Republican. Tim?
-
ok, here's the numbers
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/04/us/politics/04elect.html?hp
According to the New York Times, the Iowa primary had 239,000 Democratic voters and
108,000 Republican voters.
That's much better than two to one.
This bodes a MASSIVE Democratic victory in 2008. But, as Obama says, it should be an American victory, not a Democratic victory: a decisive, collective repudiation of the government we've had for the past seven years.
-
Oz
The white corn farmers of Iowa have spoken! Whatever. Why do we allow these hayseeds to determine anything in our democracy? No candidate can go on record that Iowa and New Hampshire should not have this influence in the process. Minorities should be vocal their lack of representation in the process.
-
@The Voice of Reason
"The white corn farmers of Iowa have spoken! Whatever. Why do we allow these hayseeds to determine anything in our democracy? No candidate can go on record that Iowa and New Hampshire should not have this influence in the process. Minorities should be vocal their lack of representation in the process."
I live in Iowa, (though I'm not a native Iowan), & I'm not a farmer, nor a hayseed.
Your second sentence points out the flaw in your illogical line of thinking: "Why do we allow these hayseeds to determine anything in our democracy?" Hmmm, perhaps because it is a democracy? Or should the voting process be limited to elitists, (of either party)? I know! We can limit voting to rich white male property owners. Oops, that would negate women & racial minorities. The very fact that you consider us "hayseeds" only shows your prejudiced, stereotypical & narrow minded point of view, as you perceive yourself to be oh so "sophisticated", but are exposed as little more than a bigot, without any "voice of reason".
BTW, given Obama's victory in the caucuses, (& him being a minority after all), perhaps the "white corn farmers", (as well as the rest of us), are actually less myopic & more intelligent than you are?
Now on the Republican side, Huckabee's victory doesn't surprise me, as I knew the conservative & evangelical element in the GOP part of Iowa would carry him to second place at the very least, if not the outright victory he did achieve. I also predict he'll carry most/all of the "Bible Belt", (originally being from North Carolina, I am well used to dealing with them), but I see him faltering in states where the evangelical wing of the GOP is outweighed by the more fiscally conservative & the more moderate wings. The problem there is the fact that the rest of the candidates may split the vote enough to allow Huckabee to remain in the race with a string of close second place finishes to McCain, Romney & possibly Giuliani in the non "Bible Belt" states.
Just for the record, my wife & I caucused for Obama, & are very happy to see him win. There is hope for this country if the momentum continues.
-
@Bluesman Mark
I don't know about this year's primaries but about 95% of the voters in the 2004 election for both Iowa and New Hampshire were white. Since that doesn't really reflect the makeup of the country's population, much less the Democratic party, I think The Voice of Reason has a point on minority representation if not the "hayseed" part. The Democratic turnout was only 31% rural while the Republican turnout was 69% rural.
I really would like to see a national primary and with the states jockeying for position in the primary season like they have been perhaps that will happen some day. Of course, that would be a major blow to the local media who rake in the bucks for political advertising in the first primary states, with the money probably going to national media.
Hopefully a national primary would be later than January or February. For 2008's nominations at least any primaries after that probably won't mean anything as the candidates will have already been decided.
-
The One Word None Dare To Say: ARMAGEDDON.
We should not be surprised to see Hillary descending considering her ambiguous position on the one issue that has finally galvanized most of this country: The Neocon War in Iraq. She apologized for having voted for the war against Iraq when Bush started it and then amazingly voted to essentially support another of his delusions: a war with Iran. After viewing a qualified psychotic, Rev. Hagee, recently and listening to him expound on the joys of a final war he is eagerly awaiting which will catapult him and his ilk into heaven I wonder why this issue is not more openly reported by our mainstream media? Hagee's frequent trips to Israel where he dumps a million dollars on each visit is overlooked even when people like Senator Lieberman speak to Hagee's followers.
-
The Iowa Carcasses
Biden, Dodd, Gravel, Kucinich, Hunter,. . .Giuliani: carrion.
The rest carry on.
-
Sigh.
"In a written statement, Richardson skips right over the fact that he's 30 points behind the three front-runners to declare himself part of the 'final four.'"
To be fair, he actually brought in somewhere around 7% of the vote initially (based on entrance polls), but because of the "change your mind" option for non-viable (<15% vote) candidates, in the end a large portion of his supporters thought it would be a better idea to make their vote useful and throw in with a viable candidate. So he's probably not a great number 4, but I guess getting more votes than Mike Gravel is worth something?
-
Some numbers from Iowa
I looked up the election results from 2000 and 2004 and was surprised by what I found.
(Numbers are rounded)
2000: GORE
Bush: 634,000
Gore: 638,500
Buchanan: 5,000
2004: BUSH
Bush: 752,000
Kerry: 742,000
Nader: 6,000
So, while it is derided as lillywhite and non-representative, Iowa has switched back and forth from the R to the D column and back again over and over -- and not as a bellweather since they have often voted against the eventual winner (Dukakis, Ford, Gore, Nixon over Kennedy).
But, 2004 was a historic turnout and 2008 seems to show voter mobilization of a different order of magnitude. I think this shows rather than just being angry, people are motivated for change. The fact that so many more people cuacused with the Dems also seems like a good sign.
I am cautiously optimistic while reminded myself of the Dems' consistent ability to lose ass-kicking contests to one legged men.