Report from Ames
Highlights from Michael Barone's Washington Examiner report on the results of the straw poll today in Ames, Iowa:
Bachmann. She’s got a legitimate win. Some 4,823 Iowans came out and voted for her—more than the 4,516 who voted for Mitt Romney in 2007....That likely makes Bachmann a serious competitor also in New Hampshire and on into South Carolina.... In the meantime Bachmann will undergo more legitimate scrutiny than she has before and of course will receive some hits from MSM as well (think of the recent Newsweek cover, an attempt by Tina Brown to stay in good with her pals in Manhattan). Iowa is probably the best single venue for this candidate who was born in Iowa and has a wonderful Midwestern accent, but her appeal is by no means limited to one geographic area.
Perry. I think it’s fairly impressive for him to have gotten 4% of the votes, from an electorate that didn’t know much if anything about him and from some straw poll attendees who came to Ames intending to vote for someone else. Anecdotal evidence suggests his votes came mainly from those who saw his announcement speech in Charleston. He’s coming to Waterloo tomorrow, where he and Michele Bachmann will both appear at the Black Hawk County Republican dinner. That suggests Perry intends to seriously contest the Iowa caucuses....
Palin. The Iowa Republican party didn’t announce whether she got any write-in votes, but by calculation she could not have gotten more than 218 votes and presumably she got even fewer. Reasonable conclusion: her appearance at the Iowa State Fair yesterday produced a lot fewer votes than Rick Perry’s announcement speech in Charleston.
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Apr '11
Re: Report from Ames
I like Bachmann, I agree with her on the fundamentals, and I admire her fortitude.
But there ain't no way she's ever gonna win a general election.
But if by some miracle she did win, she'd make a terrible president who would set the conservative movement back to oblivion.
Dec '10
Re: Report from Ames
I actually think Bachmann would make a decent enough president on the job. She's an incredibly fast learner and is a more mature candidate than those who have been at it for many years. Frankly, with Ed Rollins as her manager, I'm surprised she went as far as she did.
The vitriol leveled at Bachman now (she's the most recent bete noir of the Left) just reminds me of all of the mysogyny since Hillary's 2008 run. Even moderate female candidates, like the ones in California, are in store for the most vicious ridicule.
Perhaps some of it is that a woman's voice is not fit for amplification. I was in the Hilton Coliseum today and it struck me how the female voices Kim Reynolds, Michelle Bachmann and Ron Paul seemed so much more piercing. Herman Cain, in particular, has a voice that just naturally resonates.
Jul '10
Re: Report from Ames
How can you not love Bachmann with those enemies. The lame-o demented Newsweek cover may as well have been an endorsement. Those guys are biting deep into the Onion's gig with the unintentional self-parody.
Aug '10
Re: Report from Ames
The Ames straw poll is a joke. You have to pay to vote and you get a subset of a subset - in other words, a very small chunk of voters.
Romney won in 2008 and lost the caucus, Ron Paul almost won this year! Why anyone pays attention to this thing is beyond me.
Edited on Aug 13, 2011 at 9:49pmMar '11
Re: Report from Ames
Women's voices....Ron Paul
Ha! He does sound like a shrew sometimes.
Mar '11
Re: Report from Ames
More seriously, Ramesh says it best:
"It is fashionable to disparage the Iowa straw poll as an undemocratic fundraising racket for the state Republican party because, well, that’s what it is. This year, neither of the top two candidates contested the straw poll, and its main effect has been to shoot a candidate, Pawlenty, who was already limping. The straw poll has never looked more irrelevant than it does today."
Sep '10
Re: Report from Ames
If one would like to look at the returns of the straw poll a bit more closely, one might notice that the two candidates that strongly opposed the bailout and increasing the debt ceiling got 57% of the vote. Establishment Republican candidates who favored one or both of these got less than 35%. This does not promote the idea that there is an establishment Republican candidate that would generate real enthusiasm. Perry is one more political opportunist. He has qualities that might cause some to overlook this glaring fact, but under closer examination will prove lacking. There is growing talk of Paul running on the Libertarian ticket. The party of “we’ll make things worse more slowly” seems to me to need not only a new message but a new messenger.
Jul '10
Re: Report from Ames
billy: I like Bachmann, I agree with her on the fundamentals, and I admire her fortitude.
But there ain't no way she's ever gonna win a general election.
But if by some miracle she did win, she'd make a terrible president who would set the conservative movement back to oblivion. · Aug 13 at 7:14pm
And you can reconcile these two statements how?
Jul '10
Re: Report from Ames
Crow's Nest: More seriously, Ramesh says it best:
"It is fashionable to disparage the Iowa straw poll as an undemocratic fundraising racket for the state Republican party because, well, that’s what it is. This year, neither of the top two candidates contested the straw poll, and its main effect has been to shoot a candidate, Pawlenty, who was already limping. The straw poll has never looked more irrelevant than it does today." · Aug 14 at 2:08am
Disagree. Culling weak candidates is an important job; it also did not have the desired result for Mr. Ponnuru et al. That said, reading him gives you the exact thinking of the GOP Georgetown Cocktail Party Establishment.
Edited on Aug 14, 2011 at 7:37amMay '10
Re: Report from Ames
There will now be a lot more of this sort of thing (from Ricochet's occasional visitor Charlie Dameron).
Bachmann will step in it soon enough; she can't restrain her ready-fire-aim impulses away from friendly confines- and most Republican voters are not the type who spend time at Ricochet. Romney will be nominated.