Caucus Update: "Forgetting is the new Remembering" edition

It has been pretty busy around here, so we are a bit sporadic. This means I have read your comments and my Friends' page, but i have not been too active in commenting myself.

Anyway, this was never meant to be the definitive 2012 blog, but I feel like I should at least hit the big stuff, y'know for posterity's sake.

So, you've likely seen this.  Not Rick Perry bad, but definitely not good.

Cain has went with the Bill Clinton/Shaggy defense- "it wasn't me".

Cain says he doesn't need to know about foreign policy and to be sure Obama, Dubya, and Clinton didn't have much foreign policy experience when they were sworn in either.

Still, Cain doesn't need this on top of his stand to prevent China from developing nuclear weapons and his comments on Ubeki-beki-beki-beki-stan-stan.

I'm not sure how much it hurts Cain.  Americans like mavericks, and the Conservatives like a good "the lamestream media asks gotcha questions like "What newspapers do you read?"" story.

Newt Gingrich also is suffering some memory loss.

While his campaign has made a great leap forward, it has been revealed he was an advisor to that most-hated-by-the-GOP agency Freddie Mac.

Gingrich says he remembers it as he was paid $30,000 ('not that it matters' he adds) to act as a historian.  Freddie Mac officials remember it as Gingrich got paid close to $1.8 Million to advocate in support of the group, and use his Republican ties to bring Congressional support.

Again, hard to say if this story will go away, but Michele Bachmann has been jumping all over it, so at least one person won't let it die.

Caucus Update: "Three-Way Tie (for Last)" edition

The first post- Cain harassment poll is out, and it shows Cain is still hanging in there (at least in Iowa)

Then again, the Bloomberg poll of Iowa Republicans show it's anyone(or any one of four people)'s game.

Cain  20%
Paul 19%
Romney 18%
Gingrich 17%
Perry 7%
Bachmann 5%
Santorum 3%

The Register also put together some stats that show there's no magic bullet to become President.

They ran totals for days spent in Iowa in the last cycle, cash on hand (as of 9/30), and paid Iowa staff.

Cain  35/$1.3 million/4
Paul 33/$3.7 million/6
Romney 7/14.7million/5
Gingrich 44/$353,000/2
Perry 16/15.1million/10
Bachmann 52/1.3 million/13
Santorum 72/$190,000/9

Hard to draw conclusions except perhaps 'familiarity breeds contempt'.

The Cedar Rapids Gazette/Iowa State university/KCRG-TV also released a poll, which shows the same, except for the Newtmentum.

Cain 24%
Paul 20%
Romney 16%
Perry 8%
Bachmann 7.6%
Gingrich 4.8%
Santorum 4.7%
Others 6%
Undecided 8%

So, it's hard saying if Newt is in first or last, but we can all agree it's wide open.

Here's what each has been up to:

Cain - Cain seems to be mostly weathering everything (volunteers and cash are coming in), though the Libya thing is following him.  He is brushing them off as "I'm kind of flattered that my pauses are so important that somebody wants to make a story out of it."  Though today's quote where he places the Taliban in Libya will likely keep the story in the newscycle a little longer.

Paul - Paul seems pretty steady.  His ads run of tv and radio, and he stopped by local radio station WHO to get some face time with state Conservative icon Jan Mickelson

Romney- Romney has farmed out some of his Iowa movements to others, but will soon be opening an office in Des Moines (something he has not done until this point). The Register reiterates that Romney did a lot of campaigning here in 2007, and benefits from that.  Of course, by largely skipping Iowa, you get things like aspiring kingmaker/perennial state candidate Bob Vander Plaats saying things like Willard isn't "smart enough" to be President.

Gingrich- Newt did everything wrong, and is now near the top.  The two staffers, who famously quit his campaign in June, have come back.  At his events, he gets audiences up to 100 people.  Newt stopped by a local insurance company (which I have driven past 100s of times and knew people who worked there- to drive the point home about how local Caucus politics is). and spoke to 200 employees there.  There, he took a question from a 76-year old woman who asked why she should support him, and will be likely one of the most memorable moments of the campaign.  I do agree with the Register's Kathie Obradovich that the response wasn't a home run, but it certainly was handled better than most 'on the spot' responses. he has also been around showing his film documentary about American exceptionalism to anyone who wants to see it.

Perry-  Rick Perry is running television ads that literally show on the hour.  Here's a suggestion for potential candidates- no matter how likeable you are, if you bombard us with ads, we'll start to hate you (His latest takes aim at Obama calling America lazy).  He is also on the radio suggesting he is the true 'outsider', as he has never been in Congress and has never been a lobbyist.  I doubt people buy Perry is more of an outsider than say, Paul or Cain, but there you go.

Bachmann- Bachmann has went back to what was working, and got a front page story out of a visit to the Des Moines Register which got her a lot of good ink.  The next day followed with the Register gang painting her as someone with 'boundless energy' who has it all together and still able to keep her hair in place.  Despite the positive spin to it all, likely the only thing that will get any attention is the part where Bachmann says waterboarding is fine, but don't sign her up for it.  Her week ended with a visit to Drake University which was anything but stellar.

Santorum - Santorum has been arguing that he is the only candidate to visit all 99 Iowa counties, and playing the only card he can play- if you want Iowa to be important in Presidential politics, how about voting for the guy who spent time here like no other?  To be fair, Santorumentum is taking off, and crowds at his events have doubled!  The Register reports that 20 and 30 people attended his Monday and Tuesday events respectively.

Next up:  Pollster/Fox news Contributor Frank Luntz presents the Family Leader forum which brings together the big six (No Willard), and puts them in front of a sold-out crowd of 2500 people.  The crowd is expected to dress up, but Luntz wants the candidates to dress up "like they’re going to Thanksgiving dinner.”