Apparently the problems with the Republican Party of Iowa will be solved by reimbursing mileage at a higher rate and giving the central committee members expense accounts.  I can only suspect that this is reverse psychology aimed at the Democrats, because the Republicans can’t really be that myopic… can they?

House Democrats in the Iowa House have approved a minimum wage increase. The bill, House File 1, raises Iowa’s minimum wage by $2.10 per hour and will be the first increase in nearly a decade.

The Boston Globe says Kerry will not run again in 2008.

As you can see, there is now a calendar on the left side of the page.  If anyone officially from the campaigns wants to get in touch with me about being able to put events up on it, it would make my life a lot easier.  🙂

In response to this:  Clinton actually did buy ads in Iowa – check out Political Forecast right now.  This site just doesn’t have any ads.  Crazy, I know.  There isn’t like a blanket policy against advertisements, I just haven’t set any up yet.  I can eat a $15/month fee from soapblox though, and I don’t want to mess up the aesthetic of the site.  🙂

He took that picture to bed with him every night?  Who approved that line?

This is pretty much the steroids/Mars part of the state of the union, where Bush brings up a bunch of shit that no one cares about.  Seriously, Baby Einstein?  It’s also kind of sad that they could only get a benchwarmer for their little immigration blah blah.

Quartet?  What the hell is that?  Considering Bush was a cheerleader in college, I am guessing he played the viola.

Pelosi is on a mission to show off that she is not decrepit like Dick Cheney.  She has shot out of her seat every time, while Dick Cheney looks like he could use a cane.

Wow she looks constipated.  Here is a song about her.

“They are against almost every principle of civilization.”  Yeah, remember that time where Osama Bin Laden put out that video tape decrying agriculture and the city-state?  I am pretty sure bartering is outlawed in the Koran too.

Chuck Grassley just got his first erection in ten years with that renewable fuel goal.  Archer Daniels Midland finally got their money’s worth with him.

John Kerry is sitting next to Ron Wyden, who I strongly suspect is a homosexual.  If Kerry got a gay marriage I think he might be able to rise above 3% in the polls.  Ted Kennedy is sitting next to Barack Obama, which is also interesting.

Dick Cheney looks like he is concentrating really hard on not having a heart attack.

So I think Bush’s approval just went up 5 points with that madame speaker shit.  Kiss ass.

Strategic Vision, a Republican polling firm, has released their first polling on the Iowa Caucuses.  Here are the results:

John Edwards 25%

Barack Obama 17%

Tom Vilsack 16%

Hillary Clinton 15%

Joe Biden 4%

John Kerry 3%

Wesley Clark 2%

Bill Richardson 1%

Chris Dodd 1%

Dennis Kucinich 1%

Undecided 15%

It is remarkably similar to the Zogby poll just released a few days ago, which you can find here.

What is your perspective on the race in Iowa from the ground?  And don’t forget to take the caucus poll on the right.

Should I watch it, or Veronica Mars?  The fact that this is a tough decision bothers me.  I just really don’t give a shit what Bush has to say any more.

Former LG candidate Andy McGuire is on board with Hillary Clinton.  So is somehow-related former state chair and Congressional candidate Sheila Riggs.  Obviously Bonnie Campbell is on board.  Also involved is Kim Pieper, the campaign manager for Selden Spencer and former finance director for Mike Blouin’s gubernatorial campaign.

While it jumps out at me that Clinton seems to be running a Y chromosome-free campaign here, after some consideration (on a blog?  wtf?) it is most likely a combination of self-selection and me being a man.  Vilsack’s high-level staff, for example, is really dude-heavy – TPM lists one female and eleven males.  That’s pretty typical – Edwards has three females and thirteen males, and Obama has six and fifteen.  Hillary is actually the most gender-balanced nationally, with somewhere between eleven and thirteen females out of twenty-three total.  These lists aren’t comprehensive or 100% accurate, but they do give a broad view on things.  I imagine that Hillary will end up having a pretty well-balanced staff in Iowa too once she starts staffing up for real.

And what is up with all these other guys?  Can’t find any chicks to hire for senior staff?

I’m curious for your thoughts.  As you know, I blog over at Political Forecast, treating it as my home blog.  But I also want to make Bleeding Heartland be the best political and community blog in Iowa.  My question for you then is whether or not I should haul over my posts from Political Forecast over here, or should I write other unique stuff here and kind of go back and forth?  Or should I theme my writing here?

Let me know your thoughts and ideas.  Thanks.

One of the thing that irritates me most about political coverage is how ugly candidates are covered as though they are totally foxy.  John Kerry was described as handsome all the freaking time in 2004, despite the fact that he looks like a painting that has been rained on.  Seriously, the man has more jowl than Ted Stevens and Robert Byrd combined.  When I was working on the Howard Dean campaign, I came up with a joke about him:  “John Kerry walks into a bar.  Bartender says, ‘Why the long face?’”  And I wasn’t the only one.

So anyway, now they are doing the same thing with Obama.  I like Obama.  I think most women would probably like Obama, too.  But Barack Obama is not a hottie.  He is a skinny guy with really big ears and a big mouth, and he smiles with his eyes almost shut, which makes him look like an anime character.  He’s not totally uggs like JK, but he’s basically average looking, and I say this as a skinny guy with big ears.  I realize DC is Hollywood for ugly people, but our standards could still be a little bit higher.  John Edwards actually is really hot, so it’s not like the media can’t write it about somebody.

I don’t think this matters much in the grand scheme of things – Goofiness hasn’t been much of a barrier to the Presidency, and in fact seems like an asset if you look through the history books.  (At least the kind I like, with lots of pictures and not very many words.)  Looks don’t really matter much to me either; I did support Howard Dean, who can most accurately be described as looking like a miniature lumberjack.

And don’t get me started on the Republicans.  I could write a whole post just on Duncan Hunter, the Representative from What The Fuck Is Wrong With Your Eyebrow.