Well, I am surprised a bit to see this endorsement. Living here in Des Moines, I remember 2008 was a sea of Obama yard signs and bumper stickers- finding a McCain sign was less common than seeing Ron Paul signs.

A few days ago I was driving in one of the affluent neighborhoods near Downtown, and I was shocked to see a LOT of Romney signs in front yards; I even saw a Romney bumper sticker on a Prius! For sure, there were a few more Obama signs, but the ratio was perhaps 60/40, when in 2008 it was 95/5. So, I think there has been a big shift. I'm not sure if Romney really has a good chance here in Iowa, but he's getting closer every week.

And remember: Romney has publicly opposed farm subsidies, which is the real driver of political power in this state. So the Register is putting itself out on a limb in a way that is hard to overemphasize. 

Ricochetoise sounds like either, A). a French euphemism for something unspeakable, or B). a delightful sandwich you might order at your local French bistro. Not sure if El Jefe Robinson has thought this through. 

Dennis Praeger is fond of saying, "I don't care what you believe, I just care how you treat me." If you, as a man of good will, tells me Islam repudiates the actions of the extremists, I will believe you, but in the end I don't care if Islam does or doesn't support terrorism, I just don't want terrorism. If there is an active movement in the Muslim world that wants to subjugate entire populations through murder and terror, then I oppose that movement. Whether these people are "true Muslims" or not is not my concern. 

Using blanket terms like "Muslims believe in X or Y" is lazy and insulting. So I will refrain from using these terms, since I know enough to know that I don't understand the enormous complexity of Muslim experience and belief. You seem like a decent fellow and I like decent fellows, so we're cool. 

And don't forget that the President gets to appoint the heads of numerous Federal agencies and Supreme Court justices. President Obama has shown that he is more than willing to contravene the legislative branch through the bureaucracy and judiciary. The man has to go in 2012. 

EDIT: This doesn't mean winning at any cost, as my recent post states plainly. But the stakes are extremely high. 

Hey, maybe I'm worth thinking about! Let your imagination run free. 

Kennedy, I agree with you. I didn't say it in my original post, but on balance I think it's a good thing for the GOP to have guys like Mike Murphy around- someone who will tell them things they don't want to hear. It is possible to become blinkered by ideology and lose touch with the wider electorate, and Mr. Murphy is good at reminding us of that. But do we really need to give away the store just to get customers in the door? If that's the case, then it's over- OVER over. 

I'm planning on taking a short vacation in NYC in March with the missus... well, I was going to grouse about being snowed in at the hotel, but we're staying at a really nice place, and "baby, it's cold outside", so... maybe it's a feature, not a bug. 

If you are on the road, get an HP laptop from Best Buy or another big box store. Buy a full warranty, and keep your warranty info with you when you travel. Then, if something goes wrong, you can stop in at any location and get it serviced. You can find a decent Pavilion or Inspiron laptop with a 15" screen, webcam and bluetooth for $700. Also, definitely go with Windows 7 64bit and 4GB of RAM.