The Iowa Caucus - What did we learn?

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Only in America and only in Iowa could you have four different people making victory speeches when only two people won.

First was Marco Rubio stealing every line possible from Trump and Cruz as he profusely thanked the Iowa voters for helping him do the impossible against all odds.  Odd thing is he only finished third but he had a plane to catch to New Hampshire so he was pressed for time.

Then it was the actual GOP winner Ted Cruz and before he was halfway through the victory speech out came Hillary Clinton and the networks cut to her while cutting off Cruz.

Hillary gave a fiery and almost mad speech stealing every line possible from Bernie Sanders while hugging Chelsea and Wild Bill before running off to catch her plane for New Hampshire as if she had enough of the Iowa voters.  Since she was still in a dead heat at the time and no news network predicted she would win, it seemed a bit audacious and bizarre.

Bernie Sanders followed Hillary, although he did not claim a voting victory, but certainly was justified in claiming a great moral victory against the Clinton machine.  By the time all four victory speeches were done there was still just one winner and one dead heat.

What did we learn from the Iowa experience?

In terms of strategy, Cruz was best with his 12,000 volunteers who got him the victory.  Next best was Rubio who targeted just five of the ninety-nine Iowa counties and still managed to finish third breathing down the neck of The Donald.

Trump stunned the news media when he also spoke and gave a gracious and humble three-minute thank you to the Iowa voters, with nary a nasty word uttered.  As of the morning after there were still no nasty Tweets from Trump, an eerie silence.

In the Iowa Caucus only one winner since 1972 then won the presidency, Barack Obama in 2008, not much of a record of success over a forty-four year period.  It was the same with Republicans as just George W. Bush in 2000 won since 1976.

As for the Republican vote, it went like this.

Ted Cruz                    51,666             28%

Donald Trump          45,427             24%

Marco Rubio             43,165             23%

Carson at 9% and Paul at 5% rounded out the top five of the twelve GOP candidates.  No other candidate received more than 3% of the vote.  It is interesting to note that Rand Paul beat all four GOP candidates who were former governors, while two former winners of the Iowa caucus, Huckabee and Santorum, got just 2% and 1% respectively.

Records Broken

The top three GOP finishers all broke the record for the most votes in Iowa GOP caucus history, quite a remarkable feat.

The total Republican vote of 186,295 shattered the previous GOP record of 121,503 while 171,109 Democrats voted, well below the 240,000 Obama drew in 2008.  In fact, this may have been one of few times more Republicans than Democrats voted in the Iowa primary, perhaps not so good a sign for the Democrats in terms of new voter registration and turnout potential this year.

Bernie Sanders won the youth vote, age 17-29, by an astonishing 84% to 14% for Clinton, also a bad sign for the Democrat frontrunner.  Most notable in the GOP race was a significant increase in the Evangelical voters, the Cruz base.  It totaled about 64% of the GOP voters, but Cruz, Trump, and Rubio split the vote evenly.

Cruz and his highly proclaimed Iowa organization delivered as did Rubio and his five-county strategy.  As for Trump, he may need to beef up his ground organization in future primaries but for his first election effort and considering all the anti-Trump media for the past nine months, it was quite respectable.

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Obamaville 10/8 - POW! WHAM! KA POW! SPLAT! Are you kidding Me? The People Seem to be Winning! Down with the Establishment!!!

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POW!  WHAM!  KA POW!  SPLAT!

Oh man, this is far better than the old Batman TV shows I used to watch.  Here is how you can sum up the race to be the next president of the USA, LET THE INSTITUTIONS FALL!!! 

In about four months, the results of the Iowa Primary Caucasus are the first test of the People's Will in controlling their destiny.  Can the People Take Back America and restore the former Glory of the good old US of A?

Presidential Candidates

The Silent Majority of both political parties have stunned so-called political pundits by propelling the underdogs to the overdogs position as the first sign of the collapse of the Institution called politics.

The result is startling.

The Race for Nomination by the Democrats

The Queen of the Democratic party, Hillary Clinton, who has been in politics since birth and is the epitome of "politics as usual" has watched in horror as her favorability rating literally shattered the glass floor as it dropped toward oblivion.

Poor Hillary is so bad off she had to unleash the Big Dog of presidential politics, hubby Bill, a sure sign of campaign desperation, far ahead of schedule since the election is still over a year away.

Is it just me, or do you also find it rather ironic she sent Bill Clinton to win back the female vote that is deserting her at an astonishing pace.  Hillary must know best after all her experience with Bill.

Thus, Hillary was anointed the ONE in the Democratic Party to shatter the glass ceiling of no woman ever being president.  Her campaign began in earnest a long time ago with her about a thousand points ahead of her nearest rival.

Ever since, due to being over-managed and isolated from the News Media, she watched her favorability rating flame out.  But lo and behold, and defying all odds of political reality, there is an old socialist who is not even a Democrat, he has so little regard for the Institutions, and he keeps getting bigger and bigger all the time in her rear view mirror.

Hillary slipped into the position of representing the dreaded Democrat Establishment, the Potomac Politicians who think everyone in America is stupid.  Only those on the Council of Foreign Relations, who embrace abortion, and are in bed with Wall Street and Big Pharma, deserve to be a Blue Hearted Democrat.

Of course that did not sit well with those of the far left, make that far, far left.  When Hillary tried to sell herself as a reincarnated far left liberal, the image smacked of deception.  Called out by genuine true left spokespeople like Elizabeth Warren, the rising star from Massachusetts, and Bernie Sanders, the long-standing Vermont Voice in the Wilderness for the real Progressives, she had mishandled the challenge.

Now not only do people not trust her, she has slipped behind in the polls to the man who hopes to become the oldest person ever elected president.  Bernie could become the first president from the hippie era who actually represents hippies and advocates socialism.

What is stranger is that the youngest generation, the millennial 18-35 years old, also love Bernie.  It might have something to do with the popular movie Weekend at Bernies, featuring an old dead guy being pushed around in a wheelchair all weekend by his young guests.  Who knows what motivates the young.  Well, you get the picture.

Never mind that most socialists in America wound up in jail, not in the presidency.  True to form for progressive progressives, Bernie does not need to explain how to pay for the trillions of dollars in wonderful, popular, and budget busting promises he made, but then neither did Barack Obama.

The result of all this nonsense is clear, the Democrats are a single candidate force, either Hillary, the prohibitive favorite in spite of collapsing polls, or the oldest dude to covet the presidency who is neither a Democrat, nor a capitalist, Bernie Sanders.

The Race for Nomination by the Republicans

While Hillary has been the favorite for the Democrats since Obama was re-elected in 2012, the GOP is quite the opposite.  The closest the GOP had to a favorite was Jeb Bush, whose brother and father were presidents.

In fact, George Senior lost his second term to an unknown named Bill Clinton because of a rebellion against the Republican establishment by populist Ross Perot.  Sound familiar?  Unfortunately, for Jeb, he is the political Establishment.  As a result, instead of leading in the polls all year, Jeb started at his peak and has been slipping ever since.

Nowhere has the people's rebellion against the establishment and status quo been more obvious than in the GOP contest.  As many as seventeen candidates were running at the same time, and some of the best and brightest young Republicans were in the race.

Then along came Donald Trump who quickly trumped the news media, the political pundits, even the political establishment.  To a person they labeled Trump an "entertainer" with no chance to become a viable candidate.

Described by Iowa focus group participants as conceited, conniving, and competent, or words to that effect, Trump jumped into the race with both feet racing and his mouth at warp speed.  He quickly established himself as the Patrick Henry of the modern revolution against the politic establishment.

His campaign took off like a rocket bullying its way to the top of the polls.  Ever since he began his detractors, Democrat and Republican, along with the political pundits and news media, have been predicting a variety of reasons why he will not survive.  Among them his pending collapse, his loss of interest, his forthcoming drop in the polls, his inexperience in government, blah, blah, blah.  In every instant, they are dead wrong.

Trump has changed the rules of modern campaigning.  As the consummate outsider, a successful real estate and gambling tycoon, and free speaking conversational business man, he defines what is wrong with America to allow someone like Trump to belong to the elite 1% of the population that controls most of America's wealth.

When Trump is attacked by a cynical liberal reporter Trump counter-attacks normally leaving the journalist dazed.  The same is true when opponents attack Trump in the course of the campaign, you better be ready to hold on.  He has a great advantage and not just that he has no political baggage, he believes "political correctness" is senseless.

For a non-politician Trump sure can outflank the politicians and stand alone as the only true protector of the middle class.  He stole it from Hillary since no one believes she is sincere.  If you add the poll numbers for Trump, Ben Carson, and Carly Fiorina, the three outsider GOP candidates, they represent over 50% of the electorate.

Most recently, Carly has been getting all the attention with her 14 point surge in the polls, the most in either party race.  She dominated the debates, has by far the best TV and viral commercials, is policy wise and politically savvy.  Carly is no longer a dark horse but a potential winner.

What an exciting political campaign it could be, if Hillary and Carly won their party nominations and squared off in the general election.  With women on both tickets, America would not only shatter the glass ceiling on women presidents, it would pulverize it.  They are clearly the most knowledgeable candidates in the fields.

Just behind the three outsiders Marco Rubio trails, with the preseason favorite Jeb Bush squandering in the middle of the pack.  Of course, it is early, and even the Donald seems to be stuck in the 25-33% range.

Speaker of the House

Just when we think the political situation is stabilizing and the world may survive, it reminds us of the seven years of foreign ineptness by the Obama Administration as the Middle East, specifically Syria, Iran, Iraq, and Yemen among others, are all disasters.

Our strategy failed, our plans and policy is non-existent, we failed to see the refugee crisis we would trigger, and our traditional allies are skeptical.  When it comes to our adversaries, like Obama archenemy Vladimir Putin among others, they are embarrassing us daily.

So the Pope comes to town, addresses a Joint Session of Congress, and the Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner, resigns as speaker and congressman stunning the world.  He says he decided after talking to the Pope.  The radical Republican right is joyful.

About a week later, the leading candidate to replace Boehner, Kevin McCarthy, also withdraws minutes before the first ballot to elect him.  Again, the media and politicians are stunned.  All is still well with the people who could care less about the persistent politics on capitol hill.

Stay tuned folks the chaos is bound to get even better in days and weeks to come.

Now if only the Chicago Cubs could win their first World Series in 107 years and break the longest championship drought in history.

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GOP Debate Shatters Records and Causes Media Schizophrenia

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The biggest winners

Fox News

In the estimation of many reporters who cover the political and media beats, Fox News was the winner of the first GOP debate, and with the just-released ratings we can confirm that.

A whopping 24 million watched the debate from 9 p.m. ET to just past 11 p.m. ET. FNC drew 7.9 million in the A25-54 demo.

This is now the highest non-sports cable program of all time, the highest-rated cable news program of all time, and Fox News’s most-watched program ever.

The 5 p.m. ET debate, with the 7 lower-tier candidates did very well for Fox News too, drawing 6.1 million total viewers and 1.2 million in the demo, making it the third-highest primary debate ever on cable.

This broadcast more than doubled the ratings from the previous record, the Obama Clinton debate in April 2008 in which 10.7 million watched.

Roger Ailes

President of Fox News and mastermind of the network dominance of cable television news, it is possible the Fox viewers will surpass the network record for a presidential debate audience the record being 11.3 million by ABC Network.

Fox Commentators

Megyn Kelly, Bret Baier, and Chris Wallace not only kept total control of the ten candidates, they were accused by several news outlets of being far too tough, especially on Donald Trump.  At the same time many liberal media praised them for the outstanding job of moderating.

Carly Fiorina

The California Corporate CEO literally blew the minds of everyone who did not know her, which was most people, with her presidential-like demeanor, knowledge, communications skills, presence, and grace.  Far and away, the most articulate person on either debate, remember she was relegated to the Happy Hour debate, she made the most of the opportunity.

Not only was Carly the clear winner, she also nearly melted down Twitter and Facebook whenever she answered questions and at one point in the early debate she was the subject of 63% of all Tweets.

Carly was featured as a rising Republican star back in the Coltons Point Times on

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 09, 2010

Super Primary Tuesday - Winners and Losers - The People Speak Out

 

and a second article

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 09, 2010

Super Tuesday Election Results

Marco Rubio

The Cuban American seeking to become the first Hispanic president in our history came out of the woodwork and though appearing to be the youngest of all candidates, his was the most presidential presence of all the many candidates on stage.  Beyond the image and composure, his answers were thorough, sharp, very appealing, and he is a great communicator.

Back in 2010 the Coltons Point Time featured Rubio in the following article:

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 03, 2010

Rising GOP Stars - Marco Rubio, Cuban American Tea Party Patriot

John Kasich

The Governor of Ohio, where the debate took place, was equally appealing with his down-home manner, his litany of experience, his compassion, empathy for everyone, his common sense and his folksy delivery.

The American People

In spite of technical glitches at the very beginning of the debate, which annoyed Megyn Kelly, and the lack of an audience for the early debate of seven, there were a number of outstanding aspects to the evening worthy of note.

 

The candidates, by and large, were exceptional, the subject area was extremely broad, the speakers kept within allotted times, the questions were direct and often controversial, and the exchanges between candidates were mostly good-natured, and civil.

Of course Trump was Trump but even he was more civil than usual and the liberal media had very little to criticize.  Look for Fiorina, Rubio, and Kasich to leap up in the post-debate polls.

As mentioned, the debate media coverage was all over the map with no logical pattern of what the most liberal papers said, but in the end the American people, not the media will pick the winner.

Finally,

The Biggest Loser

Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party

It appears they are finally realizing that there are 17 qualified Republican candidates dominating the news and with Hillary's commanding lead she will not be seriously challenged until a year from this coming September when the conventions are over.

Until then she has to compete with the Republican field for media attention.  With Hillary trying to be a left-leaning liberal so as not to lose her base, her only competitors are Bernie Sanders, a 73 year old Socialist, and Martin O'Malley, a Progressive and former Governor of financially-strapped Maryland.

It should be interesting with her light years ahead in the polls.

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Obamaville - January 26 - The Last Florida GOP Debate Recap

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Thursday President Obama took off on a five state junket stretching from coast to coast.  It was his government financed non-campaign trip to critical campaign swing states in an effort to sell his non-campaign State of the Union message where he laid out his election campaign platform.  Duh???

Anyway, he's out of town so the Republicans held their 18th debate of this early primary season.  Don't forget, there are still 46 more states to decide.  I, for one, think we have reached the point of intellectual saturation and constipation from this many debates.  Doesn't the media have anything else to do?  Why aren't they covering some hard news instead of trying to manufacture political news?

Maybe half a dozen would have been tolerable by this point, but one and a half dozen seems like gross over-kill.  They may serve a psychological purpose in giving that good old liberal lame street media a chance to dig deeper and deeper in trying to find weaknesses in the GOP field, and they burn up GOP financial resources thus saving Obama campaign money.

But Obama is going to have a billion campaign dollars to spend!  That is like a federal stimulus program.  Only two presidential campaigns in history have cost more than $270 million and they were both his, which just proves the point we are getting the best politician money can buy.  He will spend $1.8 billion in two elections to win a job that only pays $400,000 a year, or $3.2 million over 8 years.

As for the Republican debate that took place.

There were two winners in  the last Republican debate before the Florida primary Thursday night.  First was Marco Rubio, the rising Republican star Senator from Florida as both front runners, Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich, said they are considering him a leading candidate for a higher position than cabinet if they win the nomination.

Now the only job higher than the president's cabinet is vice president, so there is a very good chance the Republicans will be the first political party in American history to nominate a Hispanic for vice president.  A background story I did on Marco Rubio a couple of years ago follows this story.

The second winner was Romney who clearly won the debate even though Gingrich and Santorum gave him plenty of jabs.  He countered their attacks, stood his ground, and firmly and decisively controlled the outcome.

Of course he has a few more answers and positions he needs to fine tune before he takes on Obama in September but he made a giant step forward in fulfilling the uncomfortable role of aggressor in the debate.

More important, he began drawing sharp contrasts with Obama on the issues Obama cannot defend like his handling of the economy, jobs, health care, housing and energy.  After three years in office the president has little to show and a lot to promise.

Ron Paul was much sharper this debate although the moderators continue to ignore him much of the time, especially when follow up comments are given.  Still, his jokes kept thing from getting too intense and when Wolf Blitzer, the CNN moderator, pressed him about the problem if he was elected that he would be the oldest president in history, Paul shot back, be careful with your question, we passed an age discrimination law in America and you are close to it, to the laughter of the crowd.

When asked about his medical condition he replied he was healthy enough to challenge anyone on stage to a 25 mile bike ride across the Texas desert.  There was much more laughter.

Rick Santorum gave his best and most passionate but his responses were too complicated for viewers, at least me, to understand while others flat out disagreed with the typical person watching the debate.  Though it was his best effort, one could sense that his hopes for winning this time are rapidly fading and he is turning his attention to laying the groundwork for a 2016 campaign.

Ron Paul has clearly won the admiration and respect of Romney and Gingrich.  As Paul continues to attract youth and Independents, he becomes a potential crucial ally to the GOP winner because Paul can keep votes away from Obama.

Since Ron Paul really has no illusion about winning the presidency and is committed to building popular support for his agenda for America, he will be a winner.  People are hearing and believing in his message of eliminating debts, deficits, wars and foreign aid.  His individual freedom and fear of a massive central government bureaucracy, which is pretty much what we've got, are resonating with about 20% of the voters across both party lines and with Independent.

Newt Gingrich seemed almost asleep on stage.  Gone were the rapier slashes and sharp barbs.  Last debate NBC silenced the crowd and Gingrich just doesn't make it with his one liners when there is no response from the crowd.  There were no excuses in this last debate, CNN allowed the crowd to respond.  It was far more entertaining, interesting and informative than the clinical and sterile exercise NBC gave us last week.

Yet the master debater and historian seemed stunned by Romney's attacks and counter attacks and never got into a grove with the audience.  If he was slipping in the polls before the debate he stumbled in this chance to recover.

All four candidates managed to get in some good discussion about President Obama and his failed policies and to identify a far different approach to government they supported.

Mitt Romney was far more at ease in this debate than previous ones and this time the attacks inspired him as his responses and counter attacks were pretty much effective.  In the end he was the clear winner no manner what those radical socialist liberal and radical right wing conservative commentators on network and cable news say.

Now it is a long ways to the Republican National Convention in August and to the 1,144 delegates the winner needs at the convention so a lot could happen.  The news media also seems to forget that by the end of the Florida primary next Tuesday we will have only heard from 4 out of 50 states.

The following is a reprint of my earlier story introducing Marco Rubio to my readers.  You should learn about this young man and his family because he may play a big role in the future of the nation.

Wednesday, November 03, 2010

Rising GOP Stars - Marco Rubio, Cuban American Tea Party Patriot

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Highly regarded for his principled, energetic and idea-driven leadership, Marco Rubio won a three way battle for U.S. Senate fighting off numerous trips by Obama and leading Democrats and efforts to split the GOP vote in 2010. His humble and honest acceptance speech after the victory was one of the highlights of all speeches by candidates. Take a moment to listen to this 39 year old rising star.

In 1971, Marco was born in Miami to Cuban-born parents who came to America following Fidel Castro’s takeover. When he was eight years old, Rubio and his family moved to Las Vegas, Nevada where his father worked as a bartender at the Sams Town Hotel and his mother as a housekeeper at the Imperial Palace Hotel. In 1985, the family returned to Miami where his father continued working as a bartender at the Mayfair House Hotel until 1997. Thereafter he worked as a school crossing guard until his retirement in 2005. His mother worked as a Kmart stock clerk until she retired in 1995.

Rubio attended South Miami Senior High School, graduating in 1989. He attended Tarkio College in Missouri for one year on a football scholarship before transferring to Santa Fe Community College and then graduating in 1993 with a bachelor of science from the University of Florida. He continued his studies at the University of Miami where he earned his juris doctor, cum laude, in 1996.

From 2000-2008, Rubio served in the Florida House of Representatives. During this period, he served as Majority Whip, Majority Leader and Speaker of the House, effectively promoting an agenda of lower taxes, better schools, a leaner and more efficient government and free market empowerment. Rubio also helped spearhead Florida’s congressional and legislative redistricting effort. He chaired the House Select Committee on Property Rights, which crafted national model legislation to protect private property rights following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Kelo v. City of New London decision that opened the door for eminent domain abuse.

During the two years prior to assuming the speakership, Rubio traveled around the state hosting “Idearaisers” to solicit Floridians’ input on ways to strengthen Florida. The 100 best ideas were compiled into a book entitled “100 Innovative Ideas for Florida’s Future” which served as the basis for his term. All 100 ideas were passed by the Florida House. Fifty-seven of these ideas ultimately became law, including measures to crack down on gangs and sexual predators, promote energy efficient buildings, appliances and vehicles, and help small businesses obtain affordable health coverage. Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich hailed the effort as “a work of genius.”

In addition to these ideas, Rubio championed a major overhaul of the Florida tax system that would have eliminated all property taxes on primary residences in favor of a flat consumption tax. The effort garnered national attention, with Grover Norquist, president of the fiscally conservative Americans for Tax Reform, praising Rubio as “the most pro-taxpayer legislative leader in the country.”

During his legislative career, Rubio also promoted efforts to develop a world-class public school curriculum, increase performance-based accountability, enhance school choice and target the socio-economic factors affecting chronic academic underperformance. He is also widely credited for blocking the expansion of gambling in Florida and shepherding the passage of historic energy legislation based on market incentives rather than government-imposed mandates.

Since the end of his tenure as Speaker, Rubio has resumed his law practice as a sole practitioner. He has also served as a visiting professor at Florida International University’s Metropolitan Center, worked as Florida Chairman of GOPAC and as a political analyst for Univision during the 2008 election cycle.

He has also continued his community and civic involvement, serving on the boards of the Latin Builders Association and Alafit International, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting global literacy. He also remains engaged in the West Miami community where he served as a city commissioner prior to being elected to the state house.

Rubio and his wife, Jeanette Dousdebes Rubio, have been married since 1998. They are the parents of four children: Amanda, Daniella, Anthony, and Dominic. They currently live in the working class city of West Miami, just four blocks from the home his parents moved the family to in 1985.
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