Rudy Giiuliani received the surprising endorsement of Pat Robertson, arguably the most powerful social conservative leader alive, in Washington, DC, today. Networks covered the two figures’ joint appearance to announce the endorsement live, and the blogs are chattering about it. Sen. John McCain received the endorsement of former candidate Sen. Sam Brownback, one [...]

The conventional wisdom says that Sen. Sam Brownback will drop out of the race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination Friday because he ran out of money. While this is true — the Kansas Sen. was running on fumes at the end of the third quarter FEC filing deadline — the root causes of [...]

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback participated in an online chat on the Washington Post’s web site today, and he said he will drop out of the 2008 presidential race if he does not place in the top four in the Iowa Caucuses. Brownback represents a state that is only one state away from Iowa, and [...]

On the heels of Sen. Barack Obama’s Iraq policy tour through Iowa this week, expect the Obama campaign to release a legislative endorsement announcement very soon. Sen. Joe Biden announced his second House leadership endorsement yesterday, which put the legislative endorsement mini-horserace back in the news. For those keeping score: Clinton is in [...]

New poll numbers from the American Research Group reveal significant improvement in former Gov. Mike Huckabee’s standing in Iowa, bouncing to 14% support after the Iowa Republican Straw Poll earlier this month.  ARG’s polling indicated that Huckabee had the support of only 1% of Iowa Republican caucus-goers last month.
While the ARG’s likely caucus-goer screen is [...]

After the Straw Poll, Huckabee and Brownback have both significantly downsized their Iowa campaigns despite their top three finishes.
For Huckabee, who got the second-place spot in Ames, the downsizing is temporary:
Rather than kicking his Iowa campaign up a notch, second-place Ames Straw Poll finisher Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas downsized his Iowa operation to just [...]

The as-yet-mostly-untold story of yesterday’s Iowa GOP Straw Poll in Ames is not about dueling bands and barbecues, of red inked thumbs or voting machine malfunctions; it is about tax policy. Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won the coveted second-place spot over Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback on that alone.Brownback’s record on taxes was spotless enough [...]

The primacy of the Iowa Caucuses is Chet Culver’s top priority, but (1) should it be? And (2) does it matter what Culver’s priorities are?
On the first question: being chronologically first isn’t sufficient; and, taken to the extreme, it could be a bad thing. Idaho could decide to hold its primary tomorrow, and [...]

Most media types don’t get the Ames Straw Poll in the least. They describe it as an election, as a test of candidate strength, as a predictor of how the Iowa Caucuses would turn out if they were held today, etc. Almost every detail you have heard about it on cable news is [...]

Chris Matthews and other MSNBC shows have featured Obama girl, Giuliani girl, and Hillary girl multiple times — both via their YouTube exploits and in live, in-studio appearances. Why isn’t this video getting any attention? Should she have worn hot pants?

Hat-tip: Common Iowan