Meet Mitt’s Wife

Ann Romney was riding the Mitt Mobile through Mt. Vernon on Sunday, Dec. 30.

She and hubby Mitt Romney stopped at a coffee shop for a quick speech. Mrs. Romney gave a short intro of her man, but watch this video to the end to see Mitt lick his finger and make a sizzling noise and proclaim that his wife is “hot” and “amazing.”

Wow.

Steve King Intros Fred Thompson in Washington, Iowa

U.S. Rep. Steve King of Iowa’s western fifth district gave a testimony to the “fun” of campaigning by bus with former senator Fred Thompson. Part of King’s introduction concentrated on what he called “destiny” issues.

He noted Thompson’s shepherding of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts nomination. He also told the crowd that Supreme Court Justices Stevens and Ginsberg were the most likely to retire next. His personal fantasy? He wants to see Ginsberg and Stevens “fall madly in love with each other and elope to Cuba.”

King roused the crowd for Thompson’s entrance and once onstage, Thompson reeled off a series of jokes that had the audience laughing loudly.

Here’s part of King’s intro and Thompson’s comedy routine preceding his speech:

Young Iowan Announces Plans for Presidential Bid

This young Iowan is 10 years old and ready to lead the world.

In this video, Xavier Koch of Iowa City discusses his plans for a presidential run. Last week, he was in Washington, Iowa to see Illinois Sen. Barack Obama with his mother, Karen Koch.

Meet James Lowe

James Lowe is well-known around Iowa. He’s the guy in John Edwards’ speeches who couldn’t talk because of a cleft palate that was finally fixed after fifty years.

Edwards has used Lowe’s story as an object lesson in the U.S. health care system.

The former coal miner was in Lisbon, Iowa to speak on behalf of John Edwards on Saturday.

More can be found at the Iowa Independent.

Obama and Health Care Transparency

Yesterday Illinois Senator Barack Obama drew a sharp distinction between his methods and the Clintons’ work on health care in the 1990s.

He said, "My plan is not that different from Hillary Clinton's plan or John Edward's plan or any of the other plans. The question is how do you move it forward … I admire Sen. Clinton and Bill Clinton for having tried in 1993 but they did it the wrong way … they went behind closed doors … the Clinton plan was dead on arrival … "

More at the Iowa Independent…

Another Clinton Question; This Time on Likeability

At recent Hillary Clinton events in Iowa, she has taken several questions on her electability and likeability.

My guess (and advice to her) is that she’ll stop taking questions from college-age men in her audience because they all seem to be Obama supporters asking critical questions.

More at: http://www.iowaindependent.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1676

Romney: We Need Oil Drilling in Alaska

Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney gave a presentation in Muscatine on Thursday that included a video display with graphs, statistics, and bullet points.

His event was billed as a a talk on a “Strategy for a Stronger America: Strengthening America’s Economy.” He talked and explained slides that gave statistical projections on subjects including taxes, immigration, and U.S. oil dependence.

During a question and answer period, one man from the audience asked about drilling for oil in domestic territories, particularly in Alaska.

Video and more photos from event at http://iowaindependent.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=1646

All this talk of oil makes us nostalgic for 2004 when Bush and Kerry squared off over energy independence. Factcheck.org takes us back with some figures on what it would take to become energy independent, including this one:

“Bush supports expanded drilling in Alaska to increase domestic oil supply, but the US has only about 3 percent of the world’s oil reserves. At current rates of consumption that would only last 4.5 years.”

Oops.

Teenage Republican Talks GOTV for Jan. 3

Rudy Giuliani supporters come in all shapes, sizes, and ages. Rudy’s Linn County team has a young man who also is the Linn-Mar High School Teenage Republicans Co-Chairman. In this video, Jacob Nieuwsma talks about the get-out-the-vote effort in his school on January 3, 2008.

Nieuwsma and the Linn-Mar young Democrats student group have planned a special get-out-the-vote effort on the day of the caucuses.

Clinton Supporter Questions Her Electability; What?

Hillary Clinton must get a lot of questions at campaign events around the country, but when one of her own supporters wonders about her electability, something doesn’t ring true.

Lars Lavender of Parnell, Iowa was at a Clinton event in Williamsburg, Iowa yesterday.  He asked her about choosing Tom Vilsack as a running mate.

But he’s also been asking about her electability, as in, can she win the general election in November 2008.  Here’s Lavender talking about the Clinton “electable” issue.

Obama States Position on AIDS

Barack Obama took a question on dealing with domestic AIDS issues at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa. Here is the exchange:

Cornell student Abigail Pedersen asked Obama about AIDS. She said she will caucus based on the issues, not the candidates. Here she talks about Obama’s answer to her question and she explains “patent breaking” which is a process that lowers the cost of medicine and treatment for AIDS.