A beautiful day here in the heartland....spent most of the sunny day canvassing my suburban neighborhood just north of Des Moines....as beautiful a day as it was there are two visitors to my fine state this weekend who are causing much head scratching among the local Repubs....join me after the fold for a look at John and Sarah's lost weekend in Iowa...
The headline in today's Des Moines Register pretty much says it all...
"McCain's visits to Iowa baffle GOP strategists"
That's right it is seemingly like having some elderly relative show up at your door unannounced...
The local elephants are not convinced this is where grampa should be spending his weekend with little more than a week to go...
"Some GOP observers with experience in Iowa and national politics are dismayed that the campaign is spending so much time here.
'I am puzzled by the decision because it seems to me the most precious resource presidential and vice presidential candidates have is their time," said Joe Gaylord, former executive director of the Iowa Republican Party and top adviser to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.' And their appearances in Iowa, while perhaps inspirational to the base, might be better spent in other states now.
'I can't believe that they would spend any time in Iowa at all,' Gaylord added."
So really even the Iowa GOP doesn't really want you here Gramps, but I for one am more than happy you and Caribou Barbie are stumbling around the cornfields rather than being somewhere you can make a difference.
Can you make a difference??? Well the numbers (pesky facts) say you can't...
"No opinion polls of likely voters in Iowa taken since Obama and McCain clinched their party nominations have shown McCain ahead.
The Des Moines Register's Iowa Poll in September, taken in the days immediately following the Republican National Convention, showed Obama ahead by 12 percentage points."
And although Obama hasn't visited here in awhile he has the ground game that you lack...
"Obama has not campaigned in Iowa since Aug. 25, and scrubbed plans to return Thursday so he could visit his ill grandmother in Hawaii. He has also spent less money on television advertising in Iowa than McCain, as of this month.
But Obama has four times as many paid staffers working in Iowa as McCain does, and has 50 campaign offices throughout the state, compared with 16 for McCain.
Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, said Friday that the campaign's Iowa organization is the strongest of any battleground state's, a product of his win in the leadoff nominating caucuses in January.
'We think Iowa is the state where there is the biggest organizational disparity,' Plouffe said. 'We just think we've got a much stronger organization.'"
So by all means stay all weekend wasting your time...heck your running mate even caused a nice charity event...
"Clothing Drive for G.I. Joe - Palin Greeting (Community Service)
As the Iowa Chair of Veterans for Obama, I was thinking of ways to best welcome Sarah Palin when she visits Des Moines this Saturday. Knowing that jobless rates are up and temperatures are going down, I heard about Sarah Palin needing extra help with clothing recently and thought there might be others who really need the help. So, I thought we might do a clothing drive across the street from her event and donate to the Disabled American Veterans. (By the way, they rate Obama's voting record at 90% and McCain's at 20%.)
I walked by this event this morning and it was well attended by veterans and labor groups....in fact it seemed there were more Obama people in view than any Palin fans.
I love this poorly run Republican campaign!!!!