Googling Fun

The nice thing about the vast information superhighway is that when your bored at work, you can find a lot of interesting stuff. Lucky for us, procrastinators across the country have found the Caucus Cooler in this way. Here are some of the funny things people have googled that led them to the "Cooler."

"Spank Sacamano"
"My ancestors were polygamists"
"woo pig chewy ice cream"
"What's a tough sell for Pizza hut?"
"Boston Globe Sucks"
"A picture of a sausage and a pepperoni"

And of course...

"Sonny Humbucker"



LET'S GO HAWKS... Back with real news on Sunday.

Hodgepodge

It's been a rather busy week around the Cooler, with Schoenfelds and Rantses and Roederers and line changes. So here's some of the things we've missed.

• Sen. Demint does not like the Caucus Cooler. Well, he's just sick of all this 08 talk and wants his fellow Palmetto staters to slow it down.

• On the other hand, it's endorsement season (scroll down) in New Hampshire. McCain and Romney are landing the biggest fish.

• '08 GOP Convention will be in Minnesota. Does this make it more or less likely that there's a VP nominee named Pawlenty?

Back with more later.

Line Change!

Romney, McCain, and Frist go up, while Allen continues to plummet.

Allen's complete collapse has opened the door for "McCain alternatives" particularly Frist and Romney. Allen's troubles deepened this week, with accusations flying that he has a proclivity for using the "n word"

Frist has been active in Iowa since putting a team together here and looks a lot more serious about a run. He leapfrogs Allen for one reason. We can't find anybody in Iowa politics who thinks Allen has a better chance of becoming President than Frist. Nobody.

Romney also benefits from Allen's collapse and he has shown that he is essentially the co-frontrunner for the nomination. He brings on the Speaker of the House, his Iowa staff credentials are impeccable.

McCain brings on Dave Roederer and does well in the Register poll. He and Romney have separated themselves from the rest to a great extent.

Pataki polled suprisingly well behind McCain and Rudy, which justifies him holding at #3. He also picked up Iowa vet Craig Schoenfeld.

The results.

Romney goes up from 9-2 to 7-2
McCain goes up from 11-2 to 5-1
Frist goes up from 24-1 to 22-1
Allen falls from 18-1 to 25-1

Comment away

Romney Rants and Raves

Krusty beat us to the punch on this one. Damn that real job.

House Speaker Chritopher Rants will join the Kommonwealth (homage to Krusty skooping us) PAC tomorrow. Obviously getting the Speaker is a koup for the Kommonwealth PAC. Rants official title is as "advisor" to the PAK. He will play an active role in recruiting other legislators and he can certainly help with local fundraising and outreach. Rants has quite a bit of pull in the kapitol city..

Interesting Subplot: Rants and ITR butted heads during the Primary season this year, with ITR challenging a number of House incumbents in the Primary. With (many- error see below) of ITR's staff working for Pataki, that rivalry will continue to build. If you see an uptick in Pataki v. Romney sniping, now you know why.
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Update: In the interests of accuracy, Ed Failor Jr. is the only person at ITR that also works for Pataki. Both 21st Century Freedom PAC and ITR have other people with connections to both groups including Loras Schulte and Erik Helland.
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We also are happy to see Romney fundraising for Tami Wiencek. Beat the krap out of Don Shoultz girlfriend!

Wednesday, September 27
11:40am – 12:20pmThe Principal Financial Group – Auditorium, Corporate One, 711 High StreetFeaturing remarks on Healthcare to employees1

12:20pm Media Availability/Rants Announcement At The Principal Financial Group Auditorium

5:15 – 6:45pm Fundraiser for Danny Carroll Carroll’s Pumpkin Farm

Thursday, September 28
9:45am Media Availability/Renee Schulte for Senate; Jane Boyd Center in Cedar Rapids
11:40am – 12:45pm Fundraising Luncheon for House candidates Dave Wieland and Tami Wiencek Waterloo Center for the Arts

Caucus Calendar

We're going to rob from the Register today. Here are some of the upcoming Iowa visits.

Romney details were listed below

Evan Bayh and Barack Obama will be here over the weekend. Bayh will be in Boone, Dubuque, D'port, Coralville, Des Moines, Mason City, Cedar Falls, Ford Dodge, and Webster City... We're tired just typing it.

BARACK will be campaigning for Bruce Braley on Saturday.

Pataki will be here for the office we told you about last week.

Back with more of the scoop, news, and buzz you know and love later.

BREAKING- Schoenfeld to Freedom PAC

A Caucus Cooler Exclusive:

Thanks to those who alerted us by emailing the TIPJAR. After being heavily recruited by Presidential contenders, Craig Schoenfeld will be joining George Pataki's Freedom PAC.

Update: Forgot to mention that he'll be "Executive Director", whatever that means.

Schoenfeld is very active in the Iowa Political scene. He was one of the first members on Dubya's '00 Caucus staff and managed the President’s general election campaign in the State of Iowa as Political Director of Iowa Victory 2000. He has also been involved with campaigns for United States Senate, Governor, Attorney General, state legislature and assorted local offices.

He currently is a lobbyist working at Wasker, Dorr, Wimmer & Marcouiller in Des Moines.

Another nice pick-up for team Pataki to add to Ed Failor Jr., Loras Schulte, Jo-Ellen Hill (realsporers spouse), former Sen. Stu Iverson et. al.

Comment away.

Oh Boy

Another day, another article about whether George Allen is a racist. This time it's from Salon.

Three former college football teammates of Sen. George Allen say that the Virginia Republican repeatedly used an inflammatory racial epithet and demonstrated racist attitudes toward blacks during the early 1970s.

"Allen said he came to Virginia because he wanted to play football in a place where 'blacks knew their place,'" said Dr. Ken Shelton, a white radiologist in North Carolina who played tight end for the University of Virginia football team when Allen was quarterback. "He used the N-word on a regular basis back then."

A second white teammate, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he feared retribution from the Allen campaign, separately claimed that Allen used the word "nigger" to describe blacks. "It was so common with George when he was among his white friends. This is the terminology he used," the teammate said.

A third white teammate contacted separately, who also spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of being attacked by the Virginia senator, said he too remembers Allen using the word "nigger," though he said he could not recall a specific conversation in which Allen used the term. "My impression of him was that he was a racist," the third teammate said.

Our opinion on this is that Allen may or may not have used the "n word" in college, and whether he did or not shouldn't be an issue. Just like W.'s heavy partying in college shouldn't have been. "Youthful indescretions" as they say.

But the fact is whether he did or not isn't the issue. There is a slew of documentation about this guys racial insensitivities. From macaca, to being against MLK Day, to having a noose in his office, to his unadulterated love for the stars and bars, this is just icing on the cake. Not good news for George Felix Allen

I heart pardoning/Skeet Shootin'

• We told you earlier in the week that Bill Frist would be doing a skeet shooting fundraiser for RPI on Saturday. He also attended the GOPfest in Des Moines, all reports are that his appearance there was a snoozer. But the Senator showed some life, in a hallway with Kay Henderson. Check out her account on the Radio Iowa blog. Apparently the Majority Leader is a good shot.

• In the summertime Mike Huckabee got some noteriety for pardoning Keith Richards for a speeding ticket. This weekend he was getting attention for considering pardoning the stepson of a Huckabee staff member that may or may not still work for him. We'll keep an eye on this and see if it develops.

Good News for McCain and Rudy: Romney, Hillary, Frist not so much

But its early.

The Des Moines Register has been talking about their Iowa Poll for over a week and finally they get to the Presidential stuff. Here are some of the more notable results.

• In a head to head matchup McCain and Giuliani beat Vilsack, Horseface, Hillary, and Edwards. The numbers are basically the same except for in the Edwards matchup where Giuliani has a wider margin.
• Frist and Romney only beat Hillary, which is not encouraging at all for Mrs. Clinton. Romney and Frist have to be discouraged though by trailing Horseface Kerry.

• The fav/unfavs also tell an interesting story. Giuliani is 71/18 and McCain is 59/24, both really strong margins (keeping in mind that they both do well amongst D's and I's that likely won't participate in a caucus). Pataki does the next best at 35/17
• Both Frist and Romney have higher Unfavs than Favs. Only Hillary has that problem on the D side.
• Huckabee is barely known by anyone, which goes to show how much traction you really get just by showing up in Iowa. He's been here a bunch and 8 of 10 people still don't know who he is.
• Edwards and Vilsack lead the popularity contest on the D side.
  
  That's it. That's the list.