The Other McCain

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

He Only Steals From the Best

NEWTON, Iowa When I showed up at the state capitol Tuesday for the Tim Pawlenty event, T-Paw had already split the scene and I found myself talking to Joe Garofoli of the San Francisco Chronicle, who explained that Pawlenty had avoided reporters’ questions while making his early exit. Joe and I started talking about the […]

Mitt-Mania In Des Moines

Gwen Ifill and Charlie Cook talk to each other while David Weigel talks to Iowa Republicans at Wednesday’s Polk County GOP fundraiser. NEWTON, Iowa One of the things that gets lost in all the horse-race coverage of a political campaign — who’s up? who’s down? — is the sense of what a campaign actually looks […]

Sarah’s Coming to Iowa

NEWTON, Iowa Tuesday, I met with Peter Singleton and Michelle McCormick of Iowa for Palin. And during our conversation, Peter kept referring to “when” Sarah Palin gets into the 2012 campaign. All the pundits have concluded that she’s not running, but . . . well, it’s Sarah Palin we’re talking about, so never say never: […]

Mitt Romney Comes to Des Moines, Attracts Massive Media Coverage

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at a fundraiser for the Polk County Republican Party. DES MOINES, Iowa Wow — what a crowd! I just got through covering Mitt Romney’s speech to a fundraiser for the Polk County GOP, and it was kind of eye-opening to see how much more media coverage the national front-runner […]

Iowa Notebook: Romney Coming to Town; Pawlenty and the ‘Plausible Chance’ Trick

DES MOINES, Iowa Mitt Romney will be the featured guest at a “Road to the White House Republican House Party” in Des Moines this evening. That starts at 5 p.m. and then at 7 p.m. Tim Pawlenty has a rally in Ames. It’s a 45-minute drive from Des Moines to Ames, so as long as […]

Meanwhile, on the Cain Campaign …

DES MOINES, Iowa Because of my late return from Monday’s event in Council Bluffs — I didn’t get back here until nearly 3 a.m. Tuesday morning — I decided to skip the road trip today, and only made one brief outing to the state capitol where I saw the Rick Perry supporters. So I missed the […]

Young Minions of the Sith Lord of Texas UPDATE: Perry Coming to Iowa Sunday

DES MOINES, Iowa For the past several days I’ve been referring to the prospective Rick Perry 2012 candidacy as the “Phantom Menace” looming over the Ames Straw Poll. Today I unexpectedly encountered the menace in the form of perky Texas coeds in burnt orange “Americans for Rick Perry” T-shirts: While I’m usually very much pro-coed — especially […]

The Cain Train Keeps Rolling

Herman Cain speaks at Monday’s rally in Council Bluffs. Last night there was no time to blog about the late-afternoon Herman Cain rally at Bayliss Park in Council Bluffs. Dave Weigel, who had been there for Michele Bachmann’s earlier event, said Cain actually drew a slightly larger crowd than Bachmann. But I didn’t have time […]

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