The Iowa Republican Straw Poll takes place today. The Caucus has a good rundown on where you can find the best coverage, if you’re interested in that sort of thing. The LA Times has what looks to me to be sensible commentary. Despite the small size and completely unrepresentative sample that this represents, it’s the first real event in the interminable, idiotic process that the 2008 election has become and I expect that one or more of the Republican aspirants will announce their departures from the campaign soon.
If you don’t have the time or inclination to pay attention to the status of the various campaigns Will Bunch has a pretty decent lowdown on the various aspirants. It’s neither fair nor balanced consisting of today’s talking points on the Republican side and faint praise on the Democratic but it’s pretty accurate nonethelesss. Here’s his take on Dennis Kucinski:
How come it takes a vegan to throw out the red meat that liberals devour, on issues like trade and the impeachment of Dick Cheney?
Sounds like a question that answers itself.
Prediction: soon the regular party nominees will become quite apparent. I expect these to be Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side and Mitt Romney on the Republican. I will have an extremely difficult time voting for either of them. Sen. Clinton is far too Fordist for my tastes and I don’t honestly think she’s qualified to be president; Mitt Romney is a dolt (and, yes, you can have a talent for making money and still be a dolt). What that will mean is that partisans will busily convince themselves that these are great candidates. I think that candidates with a greater likelihood to win would be John Edwards and Rudy Giuliani. That doesn’t reflect preferences on my part, just the way I read the tealeaves.
Hillary yes. MItt, not so sure. I think he’ll play very poorly in the south. If it’s Mitt it’ll be a win for Hillary in the general.