The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Republicans With Shotguns

Posted on | December 27, 2011 | 14 Comments

You know you’re in Iowa when the big story of the day is how many pheasants the candidate killed:

Rick Santorum bagged at least four pheasants during his hunting trip Monday at Doc’s Hunt Club. Those four birds were just the “clean kills” that he was certain were the result of his own marksmanship — a conservative count, Santorum emphasized to the crowd of reporters who showed up at the hunting club in Adel, west of Des Moines.
While the former Pennsylvania senator was pleased with his outing, most of the reporters who showed up were more interested to know if Santorum had bagged even bigger game during this political season — the endorsement of his hunting companion, Iowa Rep. Steve King. But the conservative Republican congressman said he wasn’t quite ready to make that commitment.
“You know, I came here today to shoot some pheasants with my friend Rick Santorum and we’re having a great day,” King told the reporters assembled for Monday’s press conference. “So I’m going to deliberate on all of this and I’ve got a few days yet before a decision has to be made.… I’m leaving that open.” . . .

Read the whole thing at the American Spectator.

While King didn’t give Santorum his endorsement, yesterday’s hunting trip and press conference garnered the candidate a huge haul of publicity. Doc’s Hunt Club was crawling with reporters:



The bald guy in the dark coat is William Petroski of the Des Moines Register, who has been covering the Santorum campaign for weeks now. Petroski points out a useful bit of history:

An endorsement, or even a nod of approval from King, could be helpful to Santorum, who has been showing signs of gaining momentum.
In 2008, King endorsed Fred Thompson, who finished third among presidential candidates with 13.4 percent, narrowly ahead of fourth-place finisher U.S. Sen. John McCain, who went on to become the GOP presidential nominee. The first-place Iowa finisher four years ago was Mike Huckabee with Mitt Romney in second place.
University of Iowa political scientist Tim Hagle said that King’s Dec. 17, 2007, endorsement of Thompson was important to his candidacy.
“I have heard many times that the effort King put into the Thompson endorsement helped Thompson get to a third-place finish even though it was only just ahead of McCain,” Hagle said. While it is getting late in the 2012 caucus race, an endorsement of Santorum by King might help convince some that Santorum is the best bet among him, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann and Perry, he said.
Drake University political scientist Dennis Goldford said that in a tight caucus race “even a feather on a scale” could make a difference.

The fact that 13% was good enough for third place in Iowa four years ago is important to keep in mind. The expectations game is everything in Iowa. Yesterday, toward the end of the press conference, after Santorum talked about how many pheasants he shot during his hunting trip, Dan Balz of the Washington Post asked, “Senator, you said you killed four, but how many did you expect to kill?”

Ba-dum-BOOM-crash.

Anyway, here’s video of the start of the press conference, where the talk was all about hunting and 20-gauge Weatherby shotguns:


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Category: Fear and Loathing in Iowa, Iowa, Rick Santorum

Comments

  • http://twitter.com/richard_mcenroe richard mcenroe

    Just a 20-gauge?  Sounds like Santorum is reaching out to the squishy RINO’s… *g*

  • Pingback: At Least Santorum Doesn’t Look Like a Democrat Dukakis Doofus In A Hunting Jacket | Daily Pundit

  • Forthebirds

    I think Santorum reads are comments.  He’s smiling a lot more.

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  • http://twitter.com/johnbday John Day

    13.4% was good enough for third-place in 2008 because Huckabee and Romney took a combined 59.64%. The combined percentage of the top-two figures to be somewhat smaller this year. If you figure that Paul and Romney will both be in the low-20s and Gingrich will be in the mid-to-high teens, 13% will be good for fourth. So long as he beats Perry and Bachmann, fourth will be seen as a very good performance for Santorum.

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  • Anonymous

    I dunno. Lots of people say the bottom has fallen out of Newt’s support in Iowa, and he could finish fourth or even fifth.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/EU5DQWQTTHTPO4A4ZYSL3AAV2U Adjoran

    Well, he was shooting BIRDS – it’s pHeasants, not peasants, I saw it wrong at first and thought, “Man, the Democrats are NOT gonna like this!”

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/EU5DQWQTTHTPO4A4ZYSL3AAV2U Adjoran

    Given the muddled state of the race and the relatively soft support for most of the candidates (except for the Paulbots, who I have to credit as the most precision trained group of stoned goose-steppers ever), as many as five candidates could end up with double digit support when the snow clears. 

    The recent debacle in Virginia means Romney is almost certain to win the nomination now, but Iowa is up for grabs, anybody’s contest.

  • http://twitter.com/richard_mcenroe richard mcenroe

    Bedlam was not a source of goose-steppers per se, but a LOT of shared delusions.

  • http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/ EBL

    Shooting peasants for sport is something John Kerry might do. 

  • RepubAnon

    Don’t you mean Dick Cheney?  Plus, Cheney would make any surviving peasants apologize for getting shot.

    More seriously, was this really hunting, or just shooting feathered skeet – like Cheney’s outing?  Hunting’s one thing – shooting farm-raised birds that are released from cages just before the shooters arrive is more like buying them at the butcher store.

  • Pingback: Datechguy's Blog » Blog Archive » I’ve been pretty quiet about Rick Santorum’s “surge” » Datechguy's Blog

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Icis-Bokonon/100002578907868 Icis Bokonon

    Weatherby shotguns are going to run 2 grand each, 3 if you got to have the Italian.  Must be nice to be unemployed and have such a large family at home and still be able to afford to shoot imported pet birds with an imported pet shotgun on other people’s money.  Santorum will not win Minnesota or Wisconsin until he can kill a blind-flush grouse walking all by himself with a pump 870.

    By the way, it’s looking a little brown and 50 degrees in Iowa–as it has been for two weeks now.  Good thing weather isn’t climate, and Santorum isn’t, you know, santorum.

    ice9