Politics is a Sport: Pre-Caucus Thread

Hey Tribes, how come you haven't been conscripted by a ward boss in your neck of the woods to run for office.

As much trouble as you give all politicians, you'd be a lark to watch as a political leader.

Maybe not Taoseach [sic?], at least not straight off, but surely the Dail could use a chap of your talents?

:deal:

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Originally Posted by Don Corleone

Well, there are a couple of things the executive branch can do. They can limit funding for abortions on emergency medical bills. They can issue executive orders. And most importantly, they can lead from the bully pulpit. To the best of my knowledge, President Bush refrained from doing any of these things.

But abortion is not a driving issue for me. I appreciate and agree with your characterization of my views, more pro-life than pro-choice, but nobody that's truly pro-life would ever characterize me as pro-life.

Based on ~30 years of actively following politics (yes, I watched the news during the Carter years), I've come to realize that chosing a candidate for president is more about limiting damage. Who will do the least harm. I also look for candidates that are wise enough to focus on the big issues. Abortion status isn't changing anytime soon, so it's not an issue I expect the candidates to lead with. In fact, if that's one of their lead issues (*cough* *Huckabee* *cough*), then I generally assume they don't have any winning policies on issues they might actually be able to impact.

Right now, I'm deeply disappointed in Republicans and Democrats that our one big chance for National debate, the primaries has been squandered and nobody, R or D, has even mentioned, let alone expanded upon, what are some things they might do to reverse the trend of just how poorly prepared for global competition our current students and new graduates are.

I hate to sound like an old codger (I'm only 37), but frankly, if we don't get off our collective ass and remember how to work hard, we're going to get creamed and China, Singapore, India and Malaysia are going to eat our lunch. And they should. I'm an uber-capitalist, and if they are generating the best workforce, their econcomy should dominate. I know it's a symptom of success that asymptotically approaches a point, which is why Japan wasn't included in that list, but we're in serious of danger of having a generation of burger-flippers if our youth don't get going.

My generation was bad. Very bad, and we lost a lot of ground. But this one is even worse. I interview graduates with 3.4/3.5 GPAs from respected schools, and it scares the :daisy: out of me what they don't know.

That's something I'd like to see addressed. And all I hear is "free college education" from the left and "what problem? we're the greatest nation on Earth", or worse, "we need more immigration visas" from the right.

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I agree with you on most things. I'm just sad to see people ignore this issue. It is my biggest issue and I will never abandon it. I think that there are many more like me. If you want to win elections, Republicans right now have to try to make us content if they want our vote. If Republicans won't help us in our civil rights struggle, then we don't need them. If the won't they are truly the party of soulless greed and deserve defeat in every election.

All of their "protect the family" slogans are empty. Take that away and what does the GOP really have? A losing minority for one and a slowly dying political ideology for the other.

Bill Richardson is who I voted for here. In case he doesn't get enough support at the caucus tonight, then my backup is Obama.

1.Obama- I agree with a lot of his positions and I think that he would be a breath of fresh air to American politcs. Now I'm just worried about who he would choose as a VP.

2.Ron Paul- I like his general libertarian stance and I doubt that his kookyer ideas would get put into effect.

3. McCain- Experience, Honesty, and willingness to work with the Dems. I like him, just not as much as Paul and Obama.

4.Romney- *Shudders*, I still don't trust him because of all the flip flopping but I think that he'd actually be the best bet of reducing the deficit. I also think that he would do a good job working with congress. I'd be able to put up with him as long as we had a heavily democrat congress.



Giuliani and Edwards I could live with but I wouldn't be real happy about it.

Thompson is too conservative for me.

Huckabee and Clinton are pure evil.

My original top 4 was
1.Obama
2.McCain
3.Giuliani
4.Paul

Ron Paul

Although I'd agree he is a bit of a loon, he does want to end the income tax, increase state rights, and lower the national debt.

Come on, Ice. Aren't you an economics major? Returning to the gold standard? Dismantling the Federal Reserve?

Dismantling the fed and reverting to the gold standard might be fun. We have no way of knowing.

Rumormonger central: Thompson may drop out depending on how poorly he shows in Iowa, plans to endorse McCain. That's right McCain. In your face Rudy.

The latest tracking polls I've seen actually show Thompson with a slight, within margin of error, lead over McCain- here's hoping. Regardless, I'd expect Thompson to hang in until South Carolina- hopefully Huckabee will disappoint in Iowa and dry up and blow away before the SC primary.... :sweatdrop:

Edit: Anyone else find it disturbing that roughly 200k citizens get so much say in determining who our president in for a nation of hundreds of millions? Even in Iowa, it's expected to be a fraction of eligible voters...

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Originally Posted by Xiahou

Anyone else find it disturbing that roughly 200k citizens get so much say in determining who our president in for a nation of hundreds of millions? Even in Iowa, it's expected to be a fraction of eligible voters...

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I agree, Very disturbing.

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Originally Posted by Xiahou

The latest tracking polls I've seen actually show Thompson with a slight, within margin of error, lead over McCain- here's hoping. Regardless, I'd expect Thompson to hang in until South Carolina- hopefully Huckabee will disappoint in Iowa and dry up and blow away before the SC primary.... :sweatdrop:

Edit: Anyone else find it disturbing that roughly 200k citizens get so much say in determining who our president in for a nation of hundreds of millions? Even in Iowa, it's expected to be a fraction of eligible voters...

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You're just saying that because Thompson is losing hard there. C'mon, the first state needs to be somewhere so that they can really focus and it doesn't insult too many people to do it in Iowa.

Worst case scenario... Clinton Vs Huckabee. I guess I just wouldn't vote..

The whole primary process is not well thought out. They should all be held on the same day... by the time I get to vote in a primary things will already be decided. :dizzy2:

Alright, folks, I'm off with my father to go caucusing. Be back later.

Both parties are maintaining digital billboards where you can catch the results as they trickle in. Here's the Republican ticker, and here's the Democratic post.

Hmmm. The Republican one is already slowing to a crawl. These may not last if a lot of people tune in. Oh well, there's always Drudge.

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Hey Tribes, how come you haven't been conscripted by a ward boss in your neck of the woods to run for office.

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Probably because of the amount of ridicule I heap on them whenever our paths cross .:2thumbsup:
Then again if I could get Dodd as a running mate I would , while he may be a bit old and have health issues at the moment I am sure he and a cabinet of diddy men could do better that the usual bunch of muppets that stand .~;)

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Originally Posted by Lemur

Both parties are maintaining digital billboards where you can catch the results as they trickle in. Here's the Republican ticker, and here's the Democratic post.

Hmmm. The Republican one is already slowing to a crawl. These may not last if a lot of people tune in. Oh well, there's always Drudge.

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How is the Republican one doing? It isn't really working for me down here. I can see the Democrat one is going towards Edwards, though Hillary appears to be catching up.

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Originally Posted by CountArach

How is the Republican one doing? It isn't really working for me down here. I can see the Democrat one is going towards Edwards, though Hillary appears to be catching up.

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Looks like Huckabee in a landslide. It's already being called for him. :shame: :no:

The only bright point is that Thompson looks to be headed for 3rd place. McCain doesn't need the 3rd place showing as much due to his strength in NH, so I'd rather see Thompson make a good showing and keep more candidates on the slate for longer.... til this Huckabee mess goes away.

Xiahou, got a link? Or did you just get lucky with Lemur's provided site?

In the Dem race, Obama just passed Edwards for 1st, but considering they're all hovering around 32% it doesn't really mean anything.

According to Drudge as of 8:57 EST

Dems...
Edwards
Clinton
Obama

Reps...
Huckabee
Romney
Thompson
McCain

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Originally Posted by Tribesman

It has to be Dodd , while he has shown some difficulties in working through tax policies he works hard , does have a wide range of experience and is well known to deliver value for money .

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I'm not fond of any of the proposed guys, either side. But if I had to pick today

Dem: Dodd, with Obama as VP

Rep: McCain, with Paul as side-kick

Either duo are not afraid of a bit of hard, dirty work (which whoever wins will face for at least 3 of their 4 years in office); they know the levers of gov't, they're very familiar with international relations; they probably won't burn down the White House in their first 100 days, or take away my house, or get my soldier-son killed on an 'elective war', or further alienate the 'other' side.

I'd generally like a non-DC insider (guv, mayor, movie star), but the non-DC guys on those slates don't (IMO) rise to the level of focused vision I think we need in the cloudy next 4 years.

That said... I bet 5 bucks the Hildabeest and Huckleberry come out on top in Ioway.

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Originally Posted by GeneralHankerchief

Xiahou, got a link? Or did you just get lucky with Lemur's provided site?

In the Dem race, Obama just passed Edwards for 1st, but considering they're all hovering around 32% it doesn't really mean anything.

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He's just over 34% now, the other two are around 31.5%

They *can't* be serious. Huckabee? That idiot? For real?

:dizzy2:

If things go on this way I expect a Democratic President. Or America to prove me again that we're a nation of idiots who think gay marriage is more dangerous than Al-Qaeda.

The Democratic race is very close though. It seems Edwards/Clinton/Obama ménage à trois is a certainty.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GeneralHankerchief

Xiahou, got a link? Or did you just get lucky with Lemur's provided site?

In the Dem race, Obama just passed Edwards for 1st, but considering they're all hovering around 32% it doesn't really mean anything.

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Just based on TV news channels. 41% of votes in- Huckabee has 31% to Romney's 23%. Followed by Thompson 13% and McCain at 12%.

Haha, did anyone see the wiki page for Iowa caucus with the Obama picture? I've got a couple of screenshots.

Obama at 35%, Hillary and Edwards at 31%.

Apparently Obama will be winning Iowa for the Dems side...

It's how I figured it would happen, now it's just the nomination by the party that cements it.

I'm cool with Huckabee/Obama coming out of the caucuses on top.

Plenty of time to throw Huckabee back into oblivion/Romney's massive effort is wasted, and Hillary gets a tough (albeit close) third place finish.

Huckabee's win helps my #1, McCain, so I'm moderately happy. Obama is my #2, so I'm pleased he's probably coming in first place. And since Edwards has accepted Federal matching funds, and is thus hog-tied in terms of spending, the Dem race is really a two-way contest between Obama and Clinton.

I hardly need to repeat that Clinton is at the bottom of my dream list. Right next to Giuliani. Those were dark days, when it looked like it was going to be Giuliani vs. Clinton. On the other hand, McCain vs. Obama means I can't lose.

I love the last line of this news report:
"Meanwhile the White House says President George W Bush may not stay up late for the final results, given his habit of going to bed early."

The last time Bush went to bed early, he woke up in Iraq.

One thing you can say about this result: Both Obama and Huckabee are opposed by their own party establishment. Romney outspent Huckabee by factors. Hillary had all of the standard Democratic machine working for her, including the unions and whatnot.

Tonight's vote was a serious poke in the eye to both parties' leadership. I can't say I mind that one bit.