Category: Iowa Caucuses

John Edwards Uses Elizabeth to Say What He Can’t, Even When He’s Standing Nearby »

Lynda Waddington has an interesting account of a joint appearance of former Sen. John Edwards and his outspoken wife, Elizabeth, in Cedar Rapids. An Iowan asked about whether John Edwards would fight to ensure that every vote was counted before conceding a general election (harkening back to Kerry’s concession in 2004, before irregularities in [...]

Messages of the Week: “Middle Class Express,” “Take a Stand,” “Judgment and Experience,” and “Results Matter” »

Sen. Barack Obama is traveling through Iowa for four days this week on his “Judgment and Experience” tour. Former Sen. John Edwards launches his 17-county “Take a Stand” tour today. Sen. Hillary Clinton launches her “Middle Class Express” bus trip tomorrow. Sen. Chris Dodd will host “Results Matter” town hall meetings this [...]

Mike Huckabee’s Latest Update Touts Success in August’s Straw Poll »

When Gov. Mike Huckabee’s campaign felt the need to send an email update to its list this afternoon, they must have been struggling for material. Or maybe they just don’t know the best practices for crafting campaign emails. Either way, for their future reference, you shouldn’t begin your “Iowa Update” with two-month-old news [...]

Elsewhere »

Not a whole lot of blogging time for me today, so here are some things to read:
Marc Ambinder coins the term “Doddnovations“:
Dodd has plenty of intangibles, but they’re not the intangibles this election cycle is rewarding so far. That said, his campaign itself is near flawless; his argument is pitch-perfect and attuned to his audience. [...]

Not ‘Remainders’ »

I’m going to do these types of posts a lot, but I don’t want to call them “Remainders” because everybody else does that. What’s a good name? What’s in a name?
At Off The Bus, Ron Levitt talks about “shadow campaigns” being run by presidential candidate spouses in Florida, so as to avoid the [...]

Nevada Democratic Party Email on Primary/Caucus Calendar Leaked »

In Nevada, a state Democratic party “email to supporters” that apparently wasn’t public (I’m not sure how many “supporters” the email went out to) leaked details of what may be the new primary calendar:
On Friday, the Nevada Democratic Party sent a “caucus update” e-mail to supporters. “Today, it appears that Nevada’s interests and significance in [...]

Weekend Roundup »

Chris Bowers at OpenLeft posted a “Nomination at a Glance” update, with this to say about Iowa:
After months of trying to force a two-person race, the established media is closer than ever to actually achieving one. While Edwards is still clearly in the game in Iowa, he has now fallen to third behind Obama. Given [...]

What “We Have To Win Iowa” Means These Days »

Recent hay has been made of Michelle Obama’s poetic (almost Obama-esque…) statement in Davenport this week that “If Barack doesn’t win Iowa, it’s just a dream, but if we win Iowa, then we can move the world as it should be.” Commentators read it as the campaign’s official “We have to win Iowa” declaration. [...]

Problems in Clinton’s Iowa Campaign Overstated, But Still There »

Two weeks ago today, I broke the story that Angelique Pirozzi, who was Sen. Hillary Clinton’s Caucus Director(responsible for overseeing the campaign’s field program in Iowa), was fired.
Cityview’s Civic Skinny took a little longer getting to it, covering it this week, but they overstate the problem a little bit, calling it a “revolving door”:
Pirozzi’s departure [...]

CNN: “Edwards eyes $105M from public kitty” »

I’m all for writing critical articles about candidates rather than just rewriting their press releases and posting them, but did CNN really need to use “Edwards eyes $105M from public kitty” as the front-page title link to the story about Edwards’s decision to accept public financing? Really? The story itself is actually fine, [...]

  • Chase MartynChase Martyn observes and analyzes politics from Des Moines, IA, capital of 2008's first caucus state. He is also Managing Editor of the Iowa Independent.
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