I'm heading to Iowa folks for 72 hours of fun in caucus and corn field land beginning New Year's day...more on that below as I ask for your assistance but for now it's back to the serious business of a certain primary we've been keeping an eye on...
After a few days in the political insane asylum of Washington, D.C. and I return smack in the middle of it here. With 27 days to go the circus mania is starting to break out. Just in the past nine hours, two dependable polls (Rasmussen and CNN/WMUR) shows the Dem race in New Hampshire a statistical dead heat between Hillary Clinton (leading by 31 to 30 in the CNN/WMUR poll) and Barack Obama (who leads by a 31 to 28 margin in the Rasmussen)...the polls aren't so encouraging for John Edwards, Bill Richardson, Christopher Dodd, Joe Biden and Dennis Kucinich. For the GOPers, the CNN/WMUR poll shows Mitt Romney leading John McCain and Rudy Giuliani by a 32 to 19 margin -- Iowa surger Mike Huckabee's isn't surging so much here with a fourth place showing at 9 percent.
Holiday tour news
The Clinton folks will have her back in first-in-the-galaxy land for campaign stops this Saturday -- call it one-part holiday tour and other part to stop the poll bleeding. Not sure if she'll have time for Christmas shopping. Speaking of coincidences (or not) when it comes to volatile poll numbers as primary day approaches, here's how you know the race is getting tight: According to the Washington Post, Clinton's New Hampshire man about town and advisor Bill Shaheen talks about Obama's admitted drug use as a young man in the context of electability and how the GOPers will tar and feather him in a general election with this issue. Hmmm, I seem to remember a certain candidate named Clinton (Bill) who handled the so-called drug issue in a, well, highly creative manner (smoked but didn't inhale pot) and that didn't seem to hurt him in 1992 -- though it did hurt his credibility and helped lead to allegations of "Slick Willie" with the truth. Obama at least has been out front and honest and this hurts him how? Because the GOP will accuse him of covering up more? The GOP attack hounds are gonna make stuff up no matter what (see Boat, Swift 2004). Possibly the oddest part of the Post piece with Shaheen was a seeming back-handed appreciative nod to George Bush for being evasive about his good times as a "young and irresponsbile" cad. Not sure if the Clintonites want to go there on this issue but hey, it makes my job more interesting. Read more here. I will have an update response later from the Obama NH folks who aren't happy at all about this turn of the attack screw. (UPDATE) A statement from Obama campaign manager David Plouffe "in response to the Clinton campaign’s latest attack":
“Hillary Clinton said attacking other Democrats is the ‘fun part’ of this campaign, and now she’s moved from Barack Obama’s kindergarten years to his teenage years in an increasingly desperate effort to slow her slide in the polls. Senator Clinton’s campaign is recycling old news that Barack Obama has been candid about in a book he wrote years ago, and he’s talked about the lessons he’s learned from these mistakes with young people all across the country. He plans on winning this campaign by focusing on the issues that actually matter to the American people,” said Plouffe.
On the more benign front...
Bill Richardson has released a new ad titled "Guts" that includes an endorsement from former auto industry maven Lee Iococca. McCain may have Curt Schilling supporting him but Richardson is tapping old Red Sox glory and will have former Red Sox great Luis Tiant stumping for him on Saturday in Manchester. Obama has Oprah but John Edwards will have musicians Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne on the trail with him next Tuesday & Wednesday -- including a stop at town hall in Portsmouth.
On the Republican side, John McCain released a new ad here called "Courage" which parlays his recent Union Leader endorsement into evidence that he's (1) conservative, (2) really conservative and (3) really really a fiscally conservative who will keep the Bush tax cuts permanent (the same ones he railed against 6 years ago as fiscally irresponsible). But hey, we digress and spend too much paying attention to past statements. You can see the ad here.
McCain had former acting Massachusetts Gov. Jane Swift campaigning in the Seacoast region (talk about payback: Romney swept her aside like so much political road kill in the lead up to the 2002 GOP primary) in conjunction with the announcement of a NH Women for McCain group. In the interesting string of history department, Swift replaced Paul Celucci who left his post early to become an Ambassador to Canada (he now supports Giuliani and attacks Romney) while Celucci replaced Bill Weld who now supports Romney (who himself was a part-time Governor for the most part) and doesn't care much for his fellow New Yorker Giuliani. Really, you can't make this stuff up. And speaking of Rudy, he had surrogates Susan Molinari and Nancy Johnson (former Congressmwomen) also Seacoast out and about stumping for him.
More on Iowa
I'm heading to Iowa on Jan. 1 and will be there through caucus night of Jan. 3. I'm asking for help from readers: such as good places to eat and where the political conversation might be lively in the Des Moines area; what questions should I ask when I'm out there; and what would you like to know about the mystifying Iowa causcus process -- or for those three readers in Iowa, what do I need to know before landing near the finish line of your caucus contest. You can contact me at mmccord@seacoastonline.com with suggestions, questions or comments.
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