Countdown to Iowa

The Iowa caucus is merely 8 days away! Here are some predictions for the initial two states and Feb 5th:

IOWA: (D) Edwards -- he is swooping up the tiny rural districts which give equal voting power to 2500 residents as the larger urban centers... Why Iowa voters have *so* much power is beyond reason!
(R) Huckabee -- his christian charisma seems to sway the evangelicals despite his questionable ideas for a federal sales tax to replace income tax.

NEW HAMPSHIRE: (D) Obama -- Obama's call for change will resonate somewhere. New Hamsphire voters seem to like candidates that change the status quo.
(R) McCain -- he won it in 2004, and currently trails Romney here, but may be able to steal it away with last minute momentum.

Super Duper Tuesday: (D) Clinton -- first female president with "two for one" ballot has a draw for many.
(R) Romney -- seems to get more interest from Conservatives looking for a reasonable candidate. He's flip-flopped quite a bit, but Gulianni seems to not have much going for him other than 911 scare tactics.

Bhutto Assassinated

Pakistan Prime Minister elect Benazir Bhutto was assassinated yesterday. Her father was the first democratically elected leader in Pakistan, and she was the first and only female elected to office there. She spend much of both her terms in exile. Her death occurred in the face of imminent elections to occur only 3 weeks later. Her tragic death risks leaving the region destabilized, or at least further away from moving to a true democracy for sometime.

One interesting observation was the reaction by US leaders to this tragedy. Cable news carried no live statements from George W. Bush or Hillary Clinton. Barrack Obama and Chris Dodd however both quickly came on the air and spoke to how the situation should be handled in a wise way. Mitt Romney also appeared on the air, but was challenged when asked to speak to policy changes he would make in response to this event.

Senator Clinton and Edwards commented the next day. Both called for similar focus points (possible POTUS / VP ticket combination?) -- independent international investigators to determine the exact cause of death and those responsible. Despite the delay of the response, both of these candidates gave good, wise responses. Hillary Clinton was especially scathing towards the Bush administration's strategy in the region.

Las Vegas Democratic Debate Recap

Clinton and Obama reinforced their top two position during the Las Vegas Debate. Clinton really recovered from her setbacks during the past few weeks, and came of strong and collected during the entire debate.

Edwards lost ground and even got booed when he mentioned Hillary takes money from lobbiests in response to Hillary discussing how humbling and historic the possibility of becoming the first ever female president is. She finished her clip by mentioning that 95 year old women wait in line for hours to shake her hand, and say things like "I was born before women could vote and want to live to see the first female president." It almost brought tears to my eyes. Why Edwards would follow that with a weak attack on funding sources is baffling.

Obama did fairly well, but had some obvious slip-ups like calling his proposed 1 trillion dollar tax increase by lifting the income cap for Social Security a tax cut.

Polling numbers

Hillary and the female GOP factor

I agree with this article. Female GOP voters are likely to want to vote for the first ever female president. This really hit home when my mom, a die-hard republican, mentioned she would vote for Hillary if she is in the running. She is really disappointed in Bush, and is a Feminist at heart. I don't think her stance is an statistical outlier -- republican women are ready to show that a competent women can lead the US. So far, Hillary is navigating the Centrist political approach skillfully.

Drexal Debate

Watch the latest Democratic Debate.

The biennial veto

Every other year on average, W. Bush uses one of his most powerful presidential powers: the veto. He has thus far used this power at about 10% the rate of most modern presidents. Twice he used it to stop stem cell research. What is his hot-button issue this time? Childrens' health. He would have none of it. The excuse: to control spending. But what of the numerous bills that resulted in $4 trillion in net spending during his term? Why would a government chose to leave children without health care as the best way to meet the budget? To any rational leader, the most logical place to save money would be to trim down on the cost of war.

Barack Obama and Dick Cheney are cousins

Strange but true, Obama and Cheney are related.