After the 1995 straw poll, The New York Times issued this editorial:
Senator Phil Gramm ran dead even with the front-runner for the G.O.P. nomination, Senator Bob Dole, and for a moment there we were fooled into thinking something momentous had occurredThat is just what Mr. Gramm would have us believe. His “stunning victory,” he said, would force Republicans everywhere to think twice about the inevitability of Bob Dole. The Dole folks reinforced this notion by walking around with long faces and lamenting that the results had been a “reality check” and a “wake-up call.”
Most of this is rubbish. Straw polls are not reliable gauges of anything durable. They may, for one brief moment, show that candidate A’s organization can outhustle candidate B’s. But they say little about organizational strength over the long haul.
So if media have so long loathed the straw poll, why do they cover it?
Yepsen, who has covered his fair share of straw polls, believes there is some legitimacy to the organizational strength argument. There’s also something to being first. “Regardless of what you think of Iowa, it is the first place in the United States of America to start picking their presidential candidates. And that’s a story.”
But he also points out the Iowa GOP has made the straw poll a media event that is hard to resist: The event is scheduled for the middle of August, several weeks into a month where notoriously little happens. To maximize attendance and play to cameras, the poll coincides with the Iowa State Fair, an event that captivates the imagination of coastal types with butter-sculpted cows.
He acknowledges the state—which now has fewer than 80,000 farmers—is adept at playing up a rural, homespun image for outsiders, especially those with cameras.
“It can’t be minimized that there are pictures. [Politicians] come out and scratch the ears on a pig and eat a corn dog, and East Coast photographers can’t resist that stuff. And then there’s the straw poll itself and it’s a carnival atmosphere. It’s just a huge photo-op,” Yepsen says.
There’s another potential reason behind so much straw poll coverage. Calling to mind the Morry Taylor spectacle, Yepsen says the event is “kind of fun.” He adds, “and you know there are a lot of things covering politics that aren’t fun.”
Currently these are the 12 contenders for the presidential candidacy, regarding one of the highest issues that will hit the campaign trail for 2012. Chris Christie present Governor of New Jersey has not decided on this path yet. The majority of competitors will debating about jobs, the economy, foreign policy and many other issues in Ames, Iowa straw poll. There is dilemma that we cannot escape from, as it causing a major displacement of working Americans. According to a report there are an estimated 8 million illegal workers in mostly low income jobs throughout the United States, yet 14 million Americans have little chance of finding work in this dark recession. Even so with these figures in mind, the left still wants to enact an amnesty that could cost according to the Heritage Foundation 2.6 Trillion dollars. We hear almost every day from the Liberal academia, which by passing an amnesty, including a covert amnesty called the Dream Act that the economy will grow.
How can this be, when analysts within (FAIR) Federation of American Immigration Reform that federal costs are designated at $113 Billion dollars a year and this is exempt from what states are also paying out. The Sanctuary State of California and its Liberal legislators have transformed the State in a haven for illegal alien families and carry’s a hefty price tag of $21 Billion. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has the best grade for her stand on the illegal immigration major problem and should cite illegal Immigration as a one of the causes of Unemployment. VDARE.com’s Ed Rubenstein has been monitoring immigrant displacement of American workers since 2001. Here I want to show more evidence that immigration is linked to high unemployment .http://www.vdare.com/rubenstein/041116_nd.htm
This is a appraisal of competing lawmakers on their stance about illegal immigration from NumbersUSA.
Michele Bachmann, U.S. Representative from Minnesota (B- ); Tim Pawlenty, former Governor of Minnesota (C+) ; Herman Cain, former Federal Reserve banker and businessman from Georgia (C-) ;Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts (D) ; Sarah Palin former Governor of Alaska ( D) ; Rick Perry Governor of Texas (D-) ; Jon Huntsman, Jr., former U.S. Ambassador to China and former Governor of Utah (D-) ;Newt Gingrich, former U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives from Georgia ( D-) Rick Santorum, former Senator from Pennsylvania ( F ) ; Gary Johnson, former Governor of New Mexico (F ) ;Ron Paul, U.S. Representative from Texas ( F) ; Chris Christie Governor of New Jersey. (F) ; Barack OBama, Present President from Illinois ( F-)
Here is an example of expenditures in the small state of Rhode Island that has a limited state budget but still burdened with illegal aliens. Because of the 14th Amendment, children born in the United States get instant citizenship. This is something that has become comparable to the free education and free uninsured health care that taxpayers are the recipients taxed.
This is truly stomach churning when citizens and legal citizens have no jobs, but have a family to feed. This is encouragement on a grand scale, which epitomizes the major problem inherited from previous administrations and leftist activists in the court system? Each year it’s so estimated that 300.000 pregnant women slip past the border patrol, with another 40 percent entering America with tourists and students.
The fact is that it’s perfectly legal for a destitute, pregnant illegal alien, who presents herself as such, to receive state aid in Rhode Island. As Rep. Peter G. Palumbo (D-RI) reported, if pregnant illegal aliens show up at a Human Services office in Rhode Island, they are given the option of Blue Cross, United Healthcare, or Neighborhood Health insurance. They also receive a $450 a month debit card, and $275 a month in food stamps. According to Palumbo, the ext
#1 Posted by Brittanicus, CJR on Wed 10 Aug 2011 at 05:08 PM
The fact is that it’s perfectly legal for a destitute, pregnant illegal alien, who presents herself as such, to receive state aid in Rhode Island. As Rep. Peter G. Palumbo (D-RI) reported, if pregnant illegal aliens show up at a Human Services office in Rhode Island, they are given the option of Blue Cross, United Healthcare, or Neighborhood Health insurance. They also receive a $450 a month debit card, and $275 a month in food stamps. According to Palumbo, the extension of such entitlement programs to illegal aliens is costing the state approximately $150-$350 million a year.
Think of the cost nationwide, specifically in Liberal controlled capitols such as Sacramento, California where the cost monthly is beyond understanding. Return to a Democrat House and senate, with Liberal entices, would bring us even more entitlements forced from Americans in taxes, to pay for the invading aliens. Rep. Michele Bachmann will end these travesties to our laws, halt small clandestine amnesties, Dream Acts, sanctuary cities and States and return this nations sovereign government to the people. Learn more to make your vote count in the Ames Straw poll and forward to the 2012 election. Many voters think there one vote doesn’t count, but your State and federal Representative wants that vote. Call them and tell them you want an end to the illegal immigration occupation. Investigate for yourself the costs and statistics unresolved problem at NumbersUSA, American Patrol, Judicial Watch and VDare.
The TEA PARTY has become an immense grassroots movement of tens of millions of one- mind Americans from all racial and religious backgrounds, political parties, no matter what the adverse pundits say? The TEA PARTY members share the focused philosophy of limited government, individual freedoms, personal responsibility, "fair" free markets and above all else returning power to the States and the people. The TEA PARTY is about reforming all political parties and control, so the key principles of our Constitution, once again is the foundation of which this nation stands.
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#2 Posted by Brittanicus, CJR on Wed 10 Aug 2011 at 05:10 PM
Say, Brittanicus, what has any of that got to do with the focus of the article, the Iowa straw poll? You need to find a relevant article on immigration reform or control so that your misguided dissatisfaction with immigrants will at least be a logical inclusion. By the way, has it occurred to you that immigrants take those jobs because others don't want to or because the pay levels are virtually exploitative. That's right. Immigrants are an exploited employee class. Welcome to Amerika.
#3 Posted by Jack, CJR on Wed 10 Aug 2011 at 08:33 PM