Iowa Results and Fallout

Dem Caucus
- Obama 38%, Edwards 30%, Clinton 29%, Richardson 2%

GOP Caucus
- Huckabee 34%, Romney 25%, Thompson 13%, McCain 13%, Paul 10%, Giuliani 4%, Hunter 1%
Note: Thompson edged out McCain in the number final number of votes each received, which gives Fred a third-place finish.

Last night was a spectacle to behold, really. While the GOP is smart to keep it simple and plain in their caucus (which really makes it more like a primary), it is notable that the Dems have a much more interesting way of going about their caucusing because it involves a lot more interaction and stumping by caucus-goers for their candidate.

- Clinton was destined to lose, here...but not by 9 percent. With New Hampshire a total dogfight between Obama and Clinton, Hillary has a lot of making up to do and only a few days to do it.

- Fred Thompson got the 3rd place finish that he needed to move forward with some momentum heading towards South Carolina (Fred isn't getting much in New Hampshire, and never really will). If Huckabee gets stomped in New Hampshire, that helps Fred...but also helps Mitt Romney in South Carolina. The next 2-3 weeks are key for Fred's campaign.

- Ron Paul polled a solid 10%, it will be interesting to see the effects that will have.

- Joe Biden and Chris Dodd both have dropped out of the running for the Dem nomination. Somewhere, Johnny Camacho is weeping gently over a piece of Biden's hairplugs.

- ABC has dropped Duncan Hunter, Mike Gravel, and Dennis Kucinich from Saturday night's GOP and Dem debates. The reason was due to the fact that none of the 3 met any of the requirements to debate. There are 3 requirements, and a candidate must reach one...those requirements are: Finishing 4th or better in Iowa, poll 5 percent or better in New Hampshire, or poll 5 percent or better in one of the major national surveys. This, combined with the dropouts of Biden and Dodd, leave 4 Democrats and 6 Republicans to debate on Saturday.

More Presidential Nomination News, Notes, and Insanity

- Despite an apparent wealth of grassroots and blog support in Virginia, Duncan Hunter has failed to make it onto the Virginia primary ballot. Unlike Tom Tancredo's withdrawal, this one surprised me a bit. I figured Hunter had the grassroots to make it on the ballot, and I would've signed a petition so he could at least make the ballot (of course, nobody contacted me), even though I'm a Fred Thompson supporter. I like Duncan, I think he's a decent politician and man, and I'm sorry he didn't make it onto the ballot.

- On the heels of his dropout from the GOP Presidential race, Tom Tancredo has endorsed Mitt Romney.

- No foul play suspected in the death of Dennis Kucinich's brother Perry, an autopsy will be done on Wednesday, Dec. 26th.

- From the Green Party ranks, former Democratic Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney has announced herself as a candidate for the Green Party's presidential nomination. McKinney has been elected, unelected, reelected, and re-unelected from the same Congressional seat (GA-04). Ironically, both times she was knocked out of her Congressional seat, it was in the Democratic primary (shows you her popularity).

McKinney joined the Green Party only two months ago, and is an extremely controversial (if nothing else) person. She has been accused of anti-Semitism, is a 9/11 conspiracy theorist who believes Bush was behind the 9/11 attacks, is an activist for the release of all documents related to the death of 2Pac (she introduced a bill to do this in Congress), attempted to bring about impeachment proceedings against President Bush, holds Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez in the highest regard, wants Nancy Pelosi replaced with Cindy Sheehan...oh yeah, and she was the one who punched a United States Capitol Police Officer when she attempted to re-enter the Capitol without the proper lapel pin for identification.

Yet, I don't see anything that stands with the Green Party's stances on environmentalism and decentralization...as she hasn't done much of anything on the environment and praises socialist/communist leaders. Hmm...

- John McCain is in a fight with the New York Times over an unpublished-as-of-yet story about a key telecom legislation that is currently before the Senate Commerce Committee. The story would lay out charges that McCain may have been providing special treatment to a lobbyist. The NYT is supposedly investigating the validity of the claims, but are frustrated with McCain's strong efforts to halt any and all publication of this story, as well. The lobbyist in question states that McCain has not shown any special treatment towards her.

McCain has hired high-powered attorney Bob Bennett to "stop the smears".

- Barack Obama stated that he would consider putting Republicans in his cabinet if elected President. Some of the names he mentioned: Sen. Chuck Hagel, Sen. Dick Lugar, and...California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

- Rudy Giuliani spent the night in a St. Louis hospital after suffering from flu-like symptoms. Feeling better after the overnight stay, Giuliani decided to go home for the holidays before heading back out on the campaign trail.

BREAKING: Brother of Dennis Kucinich Found Dead

Perry Kucinich, brother of Ohio Congressman and Democratic Party Presidential Candidate Dennis Kucinich, was found dead in his home today by a third Kucinich brother, Larry.

Kucinich was on the campaign trail, but is now currenty en route to Cleveland to be with his family at this time.

The Podium offers it's condolences to the Kucinich family as they suffer through this ordeal.

More will come as it happens...

Edwards, Richardson, Kucinich May Not Make It To Virginia

According to Jack Landers at Rule .303, John Edwards managed to submit 10,081 signatures to get onto the Virginia primary ballot...while Richardson and Kucinich each slid in with 10,000 signatures even. However, since there is bound to be a variable amount of invalid/disqualified signatures, none of those 3 may actually make it onto the ballot if the signatures are challenged. If any candidate challenges the signatures, they are reviewed one-by-one.

As Jack also points out, it would be in Barack Obama's best interests to challenge the signatures, because if he knocks Edwards off of the ballot, the race boils down to a two-candidate race in Virginia, and Obama will take all of the support he can get (most Edwards supporters, in my estimation, would prefer Obama to Clinton).

Richardson and Kucinich are pretty far down on the ladder, support-wise. However, John Edwards is polling a solid 3rd in all reputable Dem polls and is still considered to be a potential "Hillary spoiler".

Heheheh...

Check out Mortman's take on the WaPo's story about Dennis and Elizabeth Kucinich.

Then read the actual WaPo story...I may not like Kucinich as a politician, but this is a genuinely sweet (if not cosmic and a little kooky) love story that these two have.

Mortman's post is definitely funny, though ;)

In Case You Missed It

Which you probably didn't, I did a "Candidate Analysis" last week on all of the candidates that are still in that race for the presidential nomination in both major parties. Here's a list and link to each of the remaining 17 candidates.

Republicans...
- Rudy Giuliani
- Fred Thompson
- Mike Huckabee
- Mitt Romney
- John McCain
- Ron Paul
- Tom Tancredo
- Duncan Hunter
- Alan Keyes

Democrats...
- Barack Obama
- Hillary Clinton
- Joe Biden
- Chris Dodd
- John Edwards
- Dennis Kucinich
- Mike Gravel
- Bill Richardson

I also added the websites for each individual candidate to their profile, so you can check them out further if you feel inclined to do so.

Candidate Analysis: Dennis Kucinich

Candidate: Dennis Kucinich
Party: Democratic
Political Background: U.S. Representative (OH-10), Former Mayor of Cleveland
Campaign Website: http://www.kucinich.us/

Dem Appeal: Hard-line environmentalist who is the only vegan in Congress, pro-gay marriage, very pro-gun control, supports single-payer universal health care, supports free Pre-K and College educations to all Americans, anti-free trade, anti-capital punishment, supports heavier regulation of commerce and industry, pro national public smoking ban, advocate for cutting Pentagon budget and creation of 'Department of Peace', supports impeachment of Dick Cheney, promotes amnesty for illegal aliens and making Spanish a national second language, supports fairness doctrine.

Cross-over Appeal to Republicans: Straddles pro-life/pro-choice divide, supported investigation of Lewinsky scandal during Bill Clinton's term.

Cons: Signed letter of solidarity with Hugo Chavez not a popular move with either party, support comes from extreme left and "green" voters, led Cleveland into financial default during term as Mayor, voted against nationwide AMBER alert system, mainstream Dems and Republicans see him as a weak leader, anti-war stances seen as too extreme by most voters.

My Personal Thoughts: Wow, where do I start with Kucinich. He's proven to be off-step with his own party (and most of the nation), he's proven to be a miserable failure of an executive (rated as one of the 10 worst big-city mayors of all-time, first city to go into default since Great Depression). His use of confrontational politics and negotiations has led him to lose a lot of support amongst his own party's leadership.

However, his "peacenik vegan rebel" persona has resonated with a small, but solid, bloc of Dem voters who sit to the general left of the Democratic Party itself. Although they represent about 1-2 percent of the entire Dem voting bloc, they are fairly loud advocates for their candidate as most advocates for "non-mainstream" candidates tend to be.

Nonetheless, Kucinich and his followers may be shooting for goals that are loftier than their cause will propel them. While many Dems believe America needs to shift "left", this is much further to the left than most Americans will ever accept.