IowaPolitics.com BlogWatch

Tuned in conservative talk radio yesterday, and heard a caller
bemoaning how there's no candidate a true Republican konservative kan
kommit (sorry, Krusty) to in the presidential race. It's a topic
that's been raised a lot in the last year, and the more I think about
it, it's misguided. Thus far Republicans have failed to embrace three
guys with pretty good conservative cred. Recall Sam Brownback? When
the U.S. senator from Kansas -- red state "What's The Matter With
Kansas?" Kansas -- announced his presidential bid, I figured he'd be a
formidable candidate. The first time I covered Brownback in the city,
it was a closed affair in which an evangelical Christian leader held
forth on the role of religion in American history.

Labels: Sam_Brownback, Tom_Tancredo

In his first direct email to supporters since leaving the race for the White House, Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, has used the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade as a fund-raising catalyst for his political action committee (PAC). The email, prepared and paid for by the Restore America PAC, a group identified as Brownback's "leadership fund," describes the ruling "that haunts us to this day" as being perpetrated by "activist judges." ... According to Federal Election Commission filings, the Restore America PAC began 2007 with just over $10,000. It ended the third quarter with just over $1,000 in cash. In the past, however, Brownback has used PAC funds to support Iowa candidates. Contributions of $1,000 were made to congressmen Steve King and Tom Latham and former state Sen. Jeff Lamberti during his unsuccessful bid for Congress.

Labels: Sam_Brownback, Steve King, Tom Latham

Senator John McCain has landed himself a steller new endorsement this
morning when Senator Sam Brownback decided it was time to board the
Straight Talk Express. I'm not terribly surprised by this, but at the
same time, both men are not necessarily policy clones of each other
either. For instance, Brownback favors a splitting of Iraq into three
portions while McCain is probably the best civilian spokesperson the
President has for the current policy. Both men are fervently pro-life
but McCain is not a strong supporter of the Federal Marriage
Amendment; whereas Brownback most certainly is. They are; however,
very similar on the immigration issue.

Labels: John_McCain, Sam_Brownback

The Associated Press is reporting that Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas is
expected to drop out of the 2008 Republican presidential contest on
Friday, in part due to troubles raising campaign cash. Brownback
didn't go down without a fight. He was a frequent visitor to Iowa, the
first caucus state. He had a well-honed message mixing family values
with his call for major tax reform and a bipartisan, federalist
solution to the instability in Iraq. He had an aggressive campaign
operation that picked fights with rivals up and down the candidate
"tiers." But he never caught on -- as his 2 percent showing in the
latest USA Today/Gallup poll suggested. We had a good time chasing
Brownback down the "Back Roads to the White House."

Labels: Sam_Brownback

The Politico is reporting that Sam Brownback is expected to end his
bid for the Republican nomination for President tomorrow. Brownback
never recovered from finishing third, behind fellow social
conservative Mike Huckabee, in the Iowa Straw Poll in August.
Brownback's withdrawal from the field helps consolidate Huckabee's
position as the leading social conservative amongst the Republican
field. Brownback's withdrawal leaves several key Iowa Republican
activists up for grabs. Chuck Hurley, one of Iowa's leading social
conservatives, was a Brownback backer and will be courted by
Presidential candidates seeking support amongst caucusgoers from the
religious right. Another major Brownback supporter was convenience
store millionaire Don Lamberti.

Labels: Sam_Brownback

History comes at us in two forms: history in the moment when it is
made, and history in the aftermath when it is written. The first is
action, and the second is judgment. If we're wise, we always pay
attention to the judgments of history; if we're lucky, we may get to
be present on an occasion when history is made. I had the luck to be a
witness to history being made today, as two U.S. Senators and
presidential candidates, from opposite parties, appeared at the same
podium to campaign, not for votes for their respective candidacies,
but for support of their joint plan to end the civil war in Iraq,
bring stability to the Persian Gulf region and pave the way for an end
to U.S. combat operations without leaving chaos behind.

Labels: Joe_Biden, Sam_Brownback

Senator Sam Brownback's Campaign has unleashed a pair of press
releases following last night's "Values Voter Presidential Debate"
suggesting that Mike Huckabee does not have a sufficient grasp on an
important issue pertaining to the pro-life movement and suggesting
that Mitt Romney's absence is indicative of the fact that he has a
less than steller record for which to stand upon. Here's Brownback's
beef with Huckabee: "While Senator Sam Brownback has lead the fight in
the Senate to protect a key pro-life federal policy, former Governor
Mike Huckabee revealed an alarming ignorance of the issue when asked
about it at today's Values Voters Presidential Debate…" As it pertains
to Romney, Brownback noted a laundry list of concerns that
conservatives and 'values voters' should have with the former
Massachusetts Governor.

Labels: Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney, Sam_Brownback

I did my best not to laugh. I was at an event this week and a sincere
young Brownback staffer explained how the Senator was pleased with his
3rd place finish at the Ames Straw Poll. The staffer even managed to
say it with a straight face! The Fox News New Hampshire debate shows
just how marginalized the Brownback campaign has become. Brownback
went almost 30 minutes into the debate before even getting a chance to
respond to a question. The real proof that Brownback is done came
today on the Sean Hannity Show. Hannity was commenting about how he
liked all of the Republicans in the field. He went on to name them all
and point to something in their positions or accomplishments. Now he
did mention his differences with Ron Paul. And course being Hannity,
he lavished praise on Mayor Giuliani - but to be fair he mentioned all
of the candidates - except Sam Brownback.

Labels: Sam_Brownback

Norma McCorvey, known to most as "Jane Roe" in the landmark medical
privacy case Roe v. Wade, will show her support for Kansas Sen. Sam
Brownback during the Ames Straw Poll on Saturday. "Sam Brownback is
the right person, in the right place at the right time for our nation
as we seek to embrace a culture of life," she said in a prepared
statement. "I call on pro-life Iowans to voter for Senator Brownback
in Ames this Saturday. Our nation needs a president with strength,
courage and moral fortitude -- one who will lead our society on a path
that respects human life and dignity." In 1970, McCorvey was the
plaintiff in a case challenging a Texas law prohibiting abortion. At
that time, she had claimed her pregnancy was the result of gang rape,
a statement she has since declared a lie.

Labels: Sam_Brownback

The spat between Sen. Sam Brownback and Rep. Tom Tancredo kicked up a
notch on Monday morning, with both sides firing new "distortion"
charges at one another. It's a fight taking place on the second tier
of the Republican presidential contest, where Brownback and Tancredo
are among a group of candidates hoping to gain traction before the
Aug. 11 Ames Straw Poll in Iowa -- a symbolic test of candidate
support that's expected to winnow what's now a crowded GOP field. The
recap in a nutshell: Tancredo has long questioned Brownback's
commitment to fighting illegal immigration because of his past
co-sponsorship of comprehensive immigration reform that Tancredo
equates to "amnesty." Brownback fired back earlier this month,
demanding that Tancredo return campaign contributions he has received
from John Tanton, "the founder of a major Planned Parenthood network
in Michigan."

Labels: Sam_Brownback, Tom_Tancredo

Sen. Sam Brownback vs. Rep. Tom Tancredo. As of today, there is
exactly one month until the Iowa Republican Party's non-binding but
all-important Ames Straw Poll. From now until then, pay no attention
to the so-called top tier candidates. The ones to watch are the folks
on the bubble -- the second-tier contenders who are still trying to
break through in the polls and survive as THE conservative alternative
to the "Rudy McRomneys" and the political actors to be named later.
Already, there's a heated, increasingly nasty rivalry developing
between Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas and Rep. Tom Tancredo of
Colorado. It started last month and flared again on Wednesday. Here's
how it started... The Brownback-Tancredo rivalry goes back longer than
anybody has noticed. Both men are considered fairly solid social
conservatives.

Labels: Sam_Brownback, Tom_Tancredo

The Amnesty Bill is dead — at least for the time being. The people have spoken and for once the politicians listened. Even Republican presidential candidate Sam Brownback who had voted for the previous cloture motion voted against it this time. Brownback's previous vote had helped revive the bill originally. Brownback felt that the bill could be amended into a more acceptable form. I don't know what convinced him. Perhaps he understood that no matter what the president called it, the bill was amnesty. Or maybe cynically, he understood that supporting amnesty would be fatal for a candidate attempting to claim the conservative mantle in the upcoming Republican primaries. The Brownback camp is in damage control mode. I have been receiving e-mails from the Brownback camp pointing out that the Senator voted against the cloture motion. In the e-mail the senator is quoted saying: “I voted against the Senate immigration bill because I am not convinced it would fix our broken immigration system and it would most likely repeat the mistakes of the 1986 reform…” I heard Ann Coulter on O'Reilly's show tonight. He pushed her to state that she opposes any plan that would allow someone here illegally to eventually become a citizen.

Labels: Sam_Brownback

The internets are ablaze with righteous indignation that libertarian slash GOP longshot Ron Paul has been excluded from Saturday's Iowans for Tax Relief/Iowa Christian Alliance debate. The conspiracy minded even note that Iowans for Tax Relief's Ed Failor Jr. is a major McCain backer. But McCain's not even showing up. And the Daily Iowan, while also objecting to Paul's exclusion, makes the point no one else has bothered to mention: "Romney, the debate's "front-runner," has the support of a whopping 12 percent of GOP voters, according to a June 20 poll conducted by Newsweek. Huckabee, Thompson, Brownback, Tancredo, and Hunter and are polling at an abysmal 4, 2, 2, 1, and 0 percent respectively." ... by joining a forum of second and third tier candidates, Romney runs the risk of reducing himself to their level. Meanwhile, Paul is playing the classic card of the uninvited, holding a counter-debate event immediately following. Such events usually rally a candidate's own die-hards, but are rarely if ever persuasive. Paul's protestation of exclusion from this bush-league event reeks of the paranoid.

Labels: Duncan_Hunter, John_McCain, Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney, Ron Paul, Sam_Brownback, Tom_Tancredo, Tommy_Thompson

11:23 and hello. Our venue for the morning slash afternoon is the
Elmcrest Country Club on the north side of Cedar Rapids where we're
awaiting Sam Brownback. Elmcrest is the home course of Iowa's most
famous golfer, Masters champ Zach Johnson. There's a large shrine in
the entryway, right outside the dining room where the Linn County
Republican Women are having lunch. Channel 2 appears ready for Live At
Noon coverage. Speech was originally announced for 11:15 or 11:30 but
now looks more like 12:15 or 12:30. 12:03 and things are starting.
Steve West has a lot of stories. The former Hiawatha mayor is now
parade chair for the Linn County GOP. West's family settled in Iowa in
the pre-territorial era and ran a bank "until 1933 when Roosevelt took
it away." Steve committed to Brownback early, but also likes the
Thompsons Fred and Tommy. "The Republican Party is kind of up for
grabs now," he says. "I hope the conservative wing doesn't sit it out
if someone like Giuliani gets it. We need to stick together and keep
Hillary of Obama or Edwards out of there."

Labels: Sam_Brownback

...cast of thousands, well a couple of hundred anyway, were in attendance at tonight's Chairman's Picnic held at RPI HQ on East Ninth in Des Moines. The political headliners were candidates Sam Brownback and John Cox. Hugh Cort and Dan Gilbertson, who are also running for President, were also in attendance. Dr. Cort was handing out literature about his candidacy. Sam Brownback looks much younger and much more animated in person. Sen. Brownback spoke after Lt. Gen. Tom McInerney. A smart politician knows how to read an audience and Sam kept his remarks both short and up beat, perfect for a warm evening. He also knew that now was the time to publicly reaffirm his commitment to the Straw Poll and an intensive Iowa grass roots campaign. Sam got two very loud ovations, the tonic that salves the wounds all of us politicians, large and small. If he doesn't win I'd sure like to see the next Republican President nominate Sam Brownback for the Supreme Court, he certainly makes among the most logical legal arguments for his positions. We could certainly use that kind of clarity in the Federal common law, that's for sure. John Cox echoed his familiar themes of a Reaganesque strength abroad and prosperity through less government at home.

Labels: John_Cox, Sam_Brownback

... Fox asked much harder questions and allowed the candidates to go at it. We, the Republican voters, are adults and we should demand far more of this and far less of the commercials, the stump speeches etc…. Nothing instructs like dialogue. It also makes the Democrats look like the intellectual cowards that they have become. ... we're going to rate each debater on a scale of 1-30.
Sam Brownback ... 1st debate/25 2nd debate/21;
Jim Gilmore ... 1st debate/24 2nd debate/21;
Rudy Giuliani ... 1st debate/21 2nd debate/27;
Mike Huckabee ... 1st debate/25 2nd debate/27;
Duncan Hunter ... 1st debate/23 2nd debate/24;
John McCain ... 1st debate/23 2nd debate/24;
Ron Paul ... 1st debate/21 2nd debate/20;
Mitt Romney ... 1st debate/25 2nd debate/24;
Tom Tancredo ... 1st debate/21 2nd debate/22;
Tommy Thompson ... 1st debate/21 2nd debate/21.

Labels: Duncan_Hunter, Jim_Gilmore, John_McCain, Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney, Ron Paul, Rudy_Giuliani, Sam_Brownback, Tom_Tancredo, Tommy_Thompson

Tonights Republican debate was a lot better than the last one. The questions were better and the crowd was more involved. Here are some thoughts I jotted down during the debate...
* Everytime I see Mike Huckabee, I wonder why he isn't gaining any traction. His counter to Rudy on abortion was clear and a lot better than Brownback's simplistic attempt.
* I think Rudy Giuliani won because of him interjecting on Paul's comment, even though I think Paul had an important point.
* Tancredo did pretty well. His line about people should have conversions on the road to Damascus and not on the road to Des Moines got a loud ovation and was a clear shot at McCain, Rudy, and multiple choice Mitt.
* I think Gilmore, Brownback, Tommy Thompson, and Hunter should drop out. Hunter might have some credibility on immigration, but is overshadowed by Tancredo.

Labels: Duncan_Hunter, Jim_Gilmore, John_McCain, Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney, Rudy_Giuliani, Sam_Brownback, Tom_Tancredo, Tommy_Thompson

If it's not bad enough to front load the nomination kalendar, the media outlets are just adding fuel to the fire by having these early debates. I'm afraid to think how many debate threads I'll have to post between now and the Iowa Caucus. Here is the problem with early debates; none of the kandidates and especially the frontrunners will say anything of any substance this early, unless they're getting their butt kicked already. Frontrunners tend to avoid konfrontation, give politically korrect answers, and avoid nailing down their policy on most any topic. On to the debate, I thought Chris Matthews did a great job, much better than Brian Williams did with the Democrats last week. Maybe Matthews and MSNBC used the days between the two events to improve on the first debate. I'd like to do winners and losers but I don't think anyone walked away with a victory last night. So here is a list of disappointments. Sam Brownback: Someone wake me up when he is done speaking. The guy just lacks energy. He could give the best answers of the night but it will not register with me because I was probably getting popcorn, checking my email or taking a nap while he talks.

Labels: John_McCain, Mitt_Romney, Rudy_Giuliani, Sam_Brownback

Questions: I got to ask three: I asked the Senator, after he stumped on fiscal responsibility, if he would consider cutting weapons programs in the defense budget, like the Osprey, that have shown to be a waste or are not needed and fund Health Care and Cancer Research ( he talked about research in his speech). Also as a follow up question I asked the Senator if he would consider cutting nuclear weapons back considering we had 11,000 of them and are current opponents are only trying to get them. Finally after his speech we chatted for a little bit about cutting back weapons programs. Responses: The response that I got was this. Even though he seemed open and actually positive towards the idea. He felt that we should look at fiscal waste as a whole and that yes even though some weapons programs may be wasteful or not useful to our goal of national defense, there were still other programs out there that were wasting more money.

Labels: Sam_Brownback

Here's our reaction to our good friend Jonathan Martin's article The Iowa Test that we tried to post this morning. Huckabee acknowledges in the article that Iowa is going to be his largest test, going so far as to say that he needs one of the mythical 3 tickets out. ... This quote sparked a discussion around Cooler HQ this morning. Which candidate in the race is most capable of sustaining a severe blow here in the Hawkeye state. Obviously the answer is not Huckabee or Brownback. Both are supremely aware that all their eggs lie in the Iowa basket. ... Our first instinct was Rudy. Everyone agreed. Then as we delved deeper it became apparent that Iowa will probably be more important to Rudy than anyone else. ... McCain and Romney on the other hand both have organizations in NH, SC, and are building them nationwide. This will help them recover if they have an unsuccessful caucus night.

Labels: John_McCain, Mike_Huckabee, Mitt_Romney, Rudy_Giuliani, Sam_Brownback