Thursday, January 3, 2008

The Quantum-Indeterminate Iowa GOP Vote

One of the most zealous, decisive human beings I have ever known — a Catholic conservative with libertarian leanings — now lives in Iowa and reports that with only hours left to decide she is torn about whether to vote for McCain, Romney, or Paul.

Scott Nybakken says in her position, he’d vote for Thompson.

I urged her to vote for Paul, while another friend counseled her to vote for Romney — and she’s being visited this week by a popular conservative radio host who may well have other ideas.
I guess this is that “conservative crackup” they’ve been warning us about for years, despite the factions somehow sticking together all that time.

Do something relatively sane, Iowa.

Sidenote: If it ends up being Obama vs. Huckabee when all is said and done, America will have to endure a debate between ostensible moderates about whether America is more “purple” or “vertical,” which sounds vaguely obscene.

Well, all should be decided, nominees-wise, by the time of our next Lolita gathering (Feb. 6), since half the country or so votes in the Super Duper Tuesday primaries, as they’re now being dubbed, the day before that — let us hope for the best.

UPDATE: And check out Brian Doherty’s definitive article on the Ron Paul campaign, including some observations from Iowa, which you might just like so much that you’ll be inspired to go buy the hardcopy of Reason’s February issue, out this month, with Ron Paul on the cover. Maybe you should buy several dozen and distribute them in New Hampshire this weekend, in fact.

UPDATE 2: My Iowan friend — without stating her candidate pick — reports that she’ll be caucusing virtually alone to pick the Republican candidate because last-minute **OBAMA-MANIA** is sweeping Iowa with such force that even all the Republicans she knows are rushing to vote for him.  You heard it here first (unless you heard it somewhere else, of course).

2 comments:

D------ said...

It’s all in the spin. It’s no longer about winning, but to what extent candidates meet and exceed the perceived expectations created through and by the media.

If Paul does better than expected (at least pulling into double digits or finishing third), his campaign will become the new story. (And the foreign policy neo-cons will get out their chainsaws.)

By next week, the field will be even smaller as the lesser known, underfunded candidates in both parties drop out. Richardson, Hunter, Dodd, and even Thompson should be out.

If you ask me, bring back 1976 (GOP) and 1980 (Democrats) when there was real drama at the conventions when the winner was in doubt until all the delegates votes. Now, it’s over by February.

Meredith said...

My 2 Cents – The BF and I actually registered Republican and plan to attend our precinct caucus on Feb. 5 (Denver). There’s at least 2 votes for a Paul delegate. :) I suppose if I can be convinced to go through the effort of registering, locating, and actually showing up to vote at a Republican caucus, anything is possible.