The results are in, and Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee have clinched first place in the Iowa Caucus. Both Obama and Huckabee are riding high thanks to some campaign trail assistance from helpful deities - Oprah and Jebus, respectively. No, seriously; check out these entrance poll numbers:

60 percent of voters said they consider themselves evangelical Christians. Huckabee is a Baptist minister. Far more than any other characteristic – 45 percent – Republicans said they are looking for a candidate who “shares my values.” Of those respondents, 44 percent said they were supporting Huckabee.

If by “shares my values” they mean “is a total douche,” then yeah, Huckabee’s the candidate of choice. (And here’s some more doucheness for good measure). Also, according to the entrance poll, Democratic women favored Obama over Clinton 35 percent to 30 percent - obviously the Oprah Effect in action. 

In other news, Hillary Clinton came in third place for the Democrats, meaning the apocalypse might not be as nigh as previously feared.

* Headline by Jake “keepin’ it classy” Speicher.

Maybe we shouldn’t be looking at Facebook as a place to gather information about politics, but with the addition of the US Politics application and the increased popularity of the facebook, I feel it is interesting if nothing else to do so. the young people of America are very strong with their support for Senator Barack Obama. He has 159,299 supporters, 100,000 more than the runner up, the lovely Senator Hilary Clinton with 50,453. And this is not just on the Democratic side. Out of 16 presidential candidates who have created profiles for themselves on Facebook Obama in the only one who has reached the 6 digit mark, and only 7 candidates have reached 5 digits. Ya’ll’ll get a real kick out of this. Ron Paul takes third with 35,078 supporters. Thats more than Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani combined. By the way, Giuliani is never going to win because his name is too darn hard to spell. Jesus! So things look pretty good for Obama now. The next step is getting all these youngins to vote…

That is, John Frohnmayer - brother of UO President Dave Frohny. Frohnmayer, who was appointed as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts by President George H.W. Bush in 1989, only to be fired soon after for funding “obscene” art, will run in the 2008 election for U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith’s seat. But get this, he is running as an independant.

“We who have been Republicans should be weeping about the state of the Republican party,” he said. “Because the Republicans have always stood for fiscal responsibility and we have a president who has taken a $3 trillion surplus and turned it into an $8 trillion defecit in seven years.

Frohnmayer, who left the Republican Party in 2005, is a former student of the UO Law School. He currently lives in Corvallis where he is an affiliate professor of liberal arts at Oregon State, “where he teaches First Amendment issues and ethics in the history department.”

“The order of the day ought to be that partisanship ends when a person is elected, and for every minute the person is in office after that, the person ought to be doing the public’s business.”

In the video linked below, CNN is interviewing two university students, one Democrat and one Republican. CNN asks them who they think will take the primary for their respective parties, and are absolutely shocked when the Republican says Ron Paul. However, Miss GOP’s arguments make a lot of sense. Ron Paul really is a true conservative, and the majority of the Republican party has strayed from their traditional values.

The Democrat student, on the other hand, is the epitome of stupid Democrats. She doesn’t answer the question asked, and repeatedly generalizes, saying that “I just want a Democrat in office.” Has the thought ever crossed her mind that many politicians identify with one of the two big parties FOR political, not ideological reasons? Democrats vary from “gun-control, free pot, let all illegal immigrants have citizenship” crazies to moderates that say “we should stay in Iraq but change the course and maintain a strong presence abroad”.

I hope that not all Democrats are as dumb as she is. I know that these are just two people out of millions, but the Republican is clearly more of a thinker in this case, and solidly wins my confidence.

Yesterday CNN hosted its much-hyped YouTube presidential debate with the Democratic candidates. Rather than a traditional moderator, all the questions posed were submitted via YouTube by “average joes” (and a snowman). I guess this was the Internet’s big chance to make good on that whole “democratizing effect” promise we’ve been hearing about for the past ten years or so. Of course, the questions were still screened and selected by CNN, which explains the notable absence of YouTube’s regular fare (crazy Japanese prank shows, people ghostriding the whip and teenagers going out of their minds on salvia).

As for the content, it seemed marginally more interesting than a regular debate; there was at least the potential to put the candidates in the hot seat, such as when a lesbian couple inquired as to why they shouldn’t be allowed to marry. If nothing else, it was a step in the right direction, although Politico found it highly ironic that the debate itself failed to produce a “YouTube moment.” Also not impressed were the folks over at Wonkette, who live-blogged the whole thing (read: sat at their computers and got drunk as the debate unfolded).

Oh dear, oh dear. Mitt Romney is on the war path. Instead of attacking his fellow Republicans, he’s switched tactics and turned his sights to the Democrats. Recently in Massachusetts, for example, Romney compared Hillary Clinton to Karl Marx, waxing thus:

“She said we have been an ‘on-your-own society’ and she says we need to replace that with shared responsibility and ‘working together society.’ That’s out with (free-market pioneer) Adam Smith and in with Karl Marx.”

Granted, we here at the Commentator are no fans of socialized medicine, but comparing Hillary Clinton to Karl Marx is like comparing, say, a Ford Festiva to Bigfoot the monster truck. One is laughable and weak, and the other is powerful, yet taken way too seriously by stupid people. Just for the sake of argument, though, let’s compare Hillary Clinton and Karl Marx to see how they stack up against each other. (more…)

It was a dark and stormy night in New Hampshire. Ten Republican candidates for president took the stage, apparently with the intention of “debating.” And so began two hours of pandering and expounding - the sound and the fury, all that jazz. I’ve pored over extensive highlight clips and pull quotes from the debate, and what follows is my astute political analysis. (more…)

Slate has the skinny on the brave new world of political futures markets. Think you can make a buck predicting the winner? Want to test your faith in markets? Want to grab some John Edwards stock before it splits on news that he’s upgrading his haircare? What do you have to lose but the respect of anyone with less time on their hands than you?

Our esteemed alumnus, William Beutler chronicles the ornery Texan’s rise to internet celeb-of-the-moment status over at his excellent Blog P.I. site. Beutler wonders whether the online Paul-frenzy does his candidacy more harm than good, and offers  links to discussion of the authenticity of the craze.

Meanwhile, Andrew Sullivan is defending Paul at every turn, although he too had to backpeddle a bit when called out by fellow Atlantic blogger Ross Douthat. And a Right Wing News poll has 30% of 240 “right-of-center” bloggers naming Paul as the candidate they least want to see get the Republican nomination.

As Linda Richman would say, “discuss.”

At Tuesdays Republican Party debate, Texas Rep. Ron Paul turned a few heads by suggesting that *gasp* interventionist American foreign policy breeds the kind of resentment that leads to terrorist attacks on the U.S. Quoting Reagan, Paul advocated avoiding the “irrational politics of the Middle East,” cited our overthrow of Mossadegh in ‘53 as a cause for the Iran hostage crisis of ‘79, and generally pointed out the downsides to self-righteous crusading in that part of the world. The only answer to this line of critique came from a blustery Rudy Giuliani, who postured for the crowd by tapping into his “I lived through 9/11″ mystique, and now it turns out that many Republicans would rather not have to go through such an unpleasant experience again.

Saul Anuzis, chairman of the Michigan Republican party, has announced that he is circulating a petition to ban Paul from future Republican debates, proving once and for all the fact that these are really debates in name only. It is a sad commentary that a party which has lost touch with it’s ideological roots, and is on an electoral losing streak cannot seriously debate foreign policy amongst themselves without inciting an ideological purge. Those of us who would like to see a return to sanity in the Republican party (and some who don’t really) may not necessarily see Paul as the person to bring change about, but his voice in debates is absolutely crucial.

What do you think? Sign the meaningless online petition of your choice!

Kick him off (no link, RNC members only) . Keep him on. Make Rudy debate him one-on-one. Send him to the Daily Show where he’ll be appreciated.

I have finally decided how I will choose who I will be voting for in the Primary elections this year. The AP asked all the ‘08 candidates “What is your favorite food to cook?” It seems to me that John Edwards doesn’t know what side of the line he’s on. I guess its true: Republicans are meat-eating hawks and Democrats are, well, everybody else.

DEMOCRATS:

Delaware Sen. Joe Biden: Pasta

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton: “I’m a lousy cook, but I make pretty good soft scrambled eggs.”

Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd: “An August New England dinner: Lobster, corn and tomatoes.”

Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards: Hamburgers

Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich: Hot water, according to his wife, Elizabeth. Doesn’t cook. A vegan, he favors fresh fruits and vegetables.

Illinois Sen. Barack Obama: Chili

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson: Diet milkshake

—

REPUBLICANS:

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback: Beef

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani: Hamburgers or steak on the grill

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee: Ribeye steak on the grill

California Rep. Duncan Hunter: Chicken fried venison.

Arizona Sen. John McCain: Baby-back ribs

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney: Hot dog

Colorado Rep. Tom Tancredo: Doesn’t cook.

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has officially gone off the deep end. In an attempt to get voters to see him as, oh i don’t even know what, he will re-subject himself to the anguish and abuse that he experienced 40 years ago in a Vietnamese POW Camp. In a blatant political tactic, McCain claims he is trying to get back to his roots and reconnect with the struggles that defined him as a leader. What concerns me more than the cost of this project, $10 million, is that McCain has planned out the whole thing to a T. He is having himself blown out of a plane, captured, and then taken to a rat and bug infested cell. And to think I thought McCain would be the hope of the Republicans. I’ve already decided to vote for Obama but this might even push me to change my party affiliation. Check out the whole story at The Onion.

Note: The poster would like to add that although she believed The Onion to be a true publication at the time of authoring, that belief had changed at the time of posting. The choice to post was made for two reasons. 1) the author feels that this is a fairly humorous fictional story about the senator and 2) she did want to publicly laugh at herself for thinking, even for a moment, that this could in fact be true. She invites you as well to laugh on both accounts. She also apologizes for previous spelling errors.

The votes are in, and the 2007/2008 ASUO Executive will be Emily McLain and San SunOwen. The pair won the election with 1897 votes, with voting rates down from last years high of nearly 20%. Sara Hamilton and Athan Papailiou came in second place, with 1752 votes. In a dramatic twist however, the Hamilton/Papailiou slate, Campaign For Change swept every other contested seat, giving them significant power in next years political fandango.

On an editorial note, The Commentator had endorsed Hamiilton and Papailiou, and most of their slate. I still see this as a victory for responsible government, because Emily McLain will be an excellent Executive because she’ll have responsible allies on the finance committees, who will be committed to spending every dollar responsibly. In any case, the elections are over, and thank whichever good lord you like for that.

After the VP candidates were done sparring, last nights debate shifted to the Executive candidates, Emily McLain and Sara Hamilton. Although the Exec debate was not quite the study in contrast that the VP debate was, there was still enough daylight between the candidates to provide undecided voters with a clear choice. (more…)

Last nights Executive debate began with the vice-presidential debate, providing the VP hopefulls an opportunity to emerge from the shadows of their ticket-mates. The two vice-presidential candidates, San SunOwen and Athan Papailiou, tackled questions ranging from slate politics to the Virginia Tech shooting, in an exchange which was every bit as heated as the following Executive Debate. (more…)