Anonymous: Occupy Iowa's Caucus

Iowa 2012

Iowa's legalization of same-sex marriage already has the pundits pondering possible presidential permutations for the 2012 Republican Caucus.

Charlie Crist, Mike Huckabee, Jon Huntsman, Bobby Jindal, Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, Mark Sanford, and Newt Gingrich are all against gay marriage. The key difference: Crist and Huntsman favor civil unions for gay couples, while the other seven are against. That difference could possibly sway socially conservative Iowa caucus-goers. In 2008, despite a sagging economy and focus on the Iraq war, 45% of Republican caucus-goers listed "shares my values" as their most important candidate consideration. That number could climb even higher in 2012, if social issues jump to the forefront. The question is whether Crist's and Huntsman’s support for civil unions will ultimately cost them more votes than they will gain.

Of course, the way they are falling apart right now, who knows WHAT the GOP will look like by 2012.

Dark Cloud For GOP?

Via Daily Kos:

Total Voter Turnout (approximate): 356,000

Percentage of total vote:
24.5% Obama
20.5% Edwards
19.8% Clinton
11.4% Huckabee (R)

From Daily Kos diarist Devil's Tower:

Who walked away with the most impressive number of the night?

We did.

In 2000, the last time there was a caucus in both parties, Republicans turned out 87,000 voters, while Democrats produced 59,000.

There are around 600,000 registered Democrats in Iowa, and about 550,000 Republicans, but when you consider that on caucus nights, Republicans just need to show up and point to a name, while Democrats are committing to two hours of public wrangling, it's not a surprise that more Republicans show up to be "first in the nation."

Except for yesterday.

When the Des Moines Register poll was predicated on a turnout of 200,000, I was scornful. And they were wrong -- but only because they were too conservative. Last night, the Republicans produced around 115,000 voters -- an impressive 30% increase. But the Democrats turned out 236,000. That's an increase of roughly one whole helluva lot. And it's a huge indicator of both how energized Democrats are this year, and how ready independents are to put their chips on the D line.

Suuuhweeeet....

Tan-Cray-D'oh!

Right-wing fringe presidential candidate Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-CO) has released his first attack ad in Iowa, complete with a bomb explosion. Tancredo, as always, is playing to xenophobes. Job stealers! Jihadists! Close the borders! The Iowa Caucus takes place January 3rd.