New Bloomberg/Des Moines Register Poll: Walker Leads crowded GOP Field

A new poll conducted by Bloomberg News and the Des Moines Register shows just how wide the GOP field of candidates for 2016 really is...

A few stats to keep in mind when reading the results of this poll:

• 402 Iowans participated in the GOP side of this poll.
• Those polled are "likely caucus-goers", meaning they are folks likely to participate in the Iowa Caucus this time next year. 
• Poll was conducted between 26-29 January.

The big "winner" of the GOP side of the poll is Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, being the first choice of 15% of those polled. Given his recent performance at the "Freedom Summit" held by Iowa Congressman Steve King earlier this week, this results points to Walker getting his message across to those who walked the summit or followed it in conservative media.

Other solid "honorable mentions" include Senator Rand Paul and Mike Huckabee (who remains quite popular in Iowa even today, 7 years after his caucus win in the 2008).

Also of interest is that Mitt Romney, who quite publicly withdrew from the GOP field yesterday, was the first choice of 13% of those polled. Not bad for a candidate who lost in the Iowa caucus the last two election cycles (though only by a hair this last time around). With his exit, that puts a lot of points up for grabs.

Me being something of a numbers-guys (my day job), I wanted to see the actual poll results for myself to see if there any other interesting tidbits that didn't make it in Bloomberg's article, and sure enough I did.

Here are a few of these "tidbits":

• Among the likely Democratic caucus-goers, when asked if the GOP did win the White House in 2016, which of their candidates would be the best leaders, Chris Christie (20%), Jeb Bush (19%) and Mitt Romney (15%) came out on top.
• Mike Huckabee has the highest overall favorable-rating of the GOP field at 66%, with Rand Paul (64%), Rick Perry (64%), and Scott Walker (60%)  right behind him.
• However, Scott Walker has the highest "Very Favorable" rating by those polled at 32%.
• Of the much-talked candidates in the media, Jeb Bush and Christie are definitely struggling, with favorable-rating below 50% (46% and 36% respectively).
• On a personally satisfying note, waste-of-oxygen Donald Trump received an overall favorable-rating of just 26% (good to see I'm in good company with my fellow Iowans).
• When you take Mitt Romney out of the race, the poll does not show any one candidate getting a large boost in overall support. 

We are roughly one year away from the Iowa Caucuses and as political "veterans" and Iowans well know, what the GOP field looks like today could change is the blink of an eye.

For the moment though, Governor Scott Walker is probably feeling pretty good about his efforts for far...

Sen. Joni Ernst Small Gov't Hypocrisy? Ernst's Family Received $460K in Fed Farm Subsidies

Sen. Joni Ernst’s family actually received more than $460,000 in federal subsidies

Yet another example of folks who make a leaving preaching against government subsidizing too many aspects of American's lives...except those connected to the politician of course.

Being from Iowa, I can tell you that anyone trying to speak out against farm subsidies is NOT going to be a very popular person with many Iowa farmers and thus most politicians try to steer away from the topic.

But if your claim to political fame is talking about how "simple" your life was growing up and use that to tell Americans they don't need the federal government $ to get somewhere in life, you might want to rethink your message when your family's livelihood is in part subsidized by the federal government..

In SOTU, Obama Fails to Address State of the National Debt | IVN.us

In SOTU, Obama Fails to Address State of the National Debt | IVN.us



Short and sweet piece about that "deficits but by two-thirds" business in the SOTU last night..

Liberals vs Conservatives: Response to the State of the Union

In a change of pace, instead of me commenting on the President's State of the Union speech tonight, I instead want to give you folks an idea of how the two ends of the American political spectrum look at the same speech..(and then give my thoughts on the speech).

First, in the "liberal" corner, we have Ezra Klein of Vox.com:

The most important sentence in Obama's 2015 State of the Union- Vox

And in the "conservative" corner, we have Jay Cost of The Weekly Standard:

Obama's Defiant Speech- The Weekly Standard

Interestingly enough, both writers do seem to agree on one thing: The President's speech tonight was NOT one of concession or much compromise. The speech gave the impression of a President who is looking to advance a "new" agenda and be damned what happened last November...

For me, I do have to respect the President's defiance of last November's loss for his party and still propose a wide new agenda that he has to know will likely never be passed before he leaves office. He could talked more compromise given his party's weakened position, but not this President.

That being said, one does have to wonder why real purpose the President thinks this speech will serve, if any, in the long run.

A defiant speech in the face of recent political defeat is great for rallying the troops but could eventually end up wreak of pointless "political theater" to the average voter, who will then be wondering if you he/she will ever get those 90 minutes of their lives back...

On a final note, you may be surprised to hear that I don't really have much to say about my home state's new senator, Joni Ernst, having her shot at the GOP response to the SOTU. I generally don't have anything "nasty" to say about Senator Ernst, except maybe this: The fact she seems to rarely start a speech without mentioning that she is a "mother" and a "soldier" honestly bothers me. I can't really put my finger on it, but something about how she says it and the frequency in which she thinks we need to be reminded of it strikes me as run-of-the-mill campaign catch-phrase for selling political ads. I actually like her stories about growing up in rural Iowa (I can somewhat relate), but that other bit just doesn't come off as being as genuine...

Rant over, have a great week ya'll!

DISCLAIMER:

All comments and/or opinions expressed in the above work are purely those of the author unless otherwise noted and do not represent that opinions/positions of any political or non-political organization or the Department of the Defense. Any/all distribution of this work MUST contain this disclaimer. 

Pennsylvania's Attorney General Faces Possible Indictment over Leaks to Newspaper..

Definitely not the kind of publicity the Democratic Party is looking for so early in the new year..

Attorney General Kathleen Kane has been something a rising star within the Democratic party since his election in 2012 as Pennsylvania's first female Attorney General.

Her victory has often been linked to strong support from former President Bill Clinton, who campaigned strongly for her in 2012, including during the primary election (probably wouldn't have anything to do with the fact Kane's primary opponent supported Barack Obama back in 2008...).

While not much information has necessarily been released concerning the possible charges against her, they appear to stem from a claim she released potentially damning investigate material of political opponents to a newspaper.

Stay tuned for this one, as I suspect once an indictment comes, more details will be released and this could turn out to be more than just bad publicity for the Democrats..

RedState: The Insanity of the GOP: Doing the Same Thing Over & Over- Add Erick Erickson to the dog-pile!

Well, as predicted, the dog-pile for the #DumpBoehner movement begins..

Now with Redstate's Erick Erickson adding his 2 cents!


The Insanity of the GOP: Doing the Same Thing Over and Over | RedState

Iowa Congressman Steve King: "I can't vote for John Boehner again."- Let the dog-pile begin!

First, my thanks to The Iowa Republican's very own Craig Robinson who posted this fascinating story about an op-ed by  on Breitbart.com today...

Per Breitbart.com:

Well known conservative hardliner Representative Steve King (IA-4) announced publicly today that he will NOT vote for John Boehner to be Speaker of the House of Representatives this coming session.

This is not the first such public statement by GOPers in the House over the last few days (Representatives Gohmert and Yoho have also made similar statements this weekend), but King's maybe the most foreboding in several ways.

Firstly, for folks who haven't following my blog for very long, I have a VERY strong dislike for Representative King (to the be point he sometimes makes me embarrassed to be from the same state, but thankfully not my home district..). I do however, acknowledge that he does hold some sway within Iowa's conservative movement and is NOT to be under-estimated as a political opponent.

So why does his statement against current Speaker of the House John Boehner mean more than these previous statements?

Because of what state Mr. King represents: Iowa.