After a triumphant stop in his home state of Illinois with new road buddy Joe Biden, Barack Obama is speaking in Davenport, Iowa this morning at a "One Nation" town hall meeting. While his wife Michelle Obama is making tracks to Denver to speak at the DNC tonight, her husband is wending his way there, stopping in the battleground state of Missouri tomorrow. John McCain is polling 10 points ahead of Obama in the Show Me State, according to last week's numbers.]]>
The weekend's finally here! By now you should've finalized some sort of holiday action plan, but here's one last Fourth of July suggestion: Independence, Iowa. With just over 6,000 residents at last count, the town is certainly small, but as they say, "Everybody observes the Fourth of July, we celebrate it!"]]>
Despite the variety of signs which have sprung up around security checkpoints in the past five years about your coat, shoes and electronic devices, it seems like there's always a new instruction that has been literally tacked on to the existing rules and regulations. Passive Aggressive Notes shares this snap by Timoni Grone at Sioux City Gateway Airport (the infamous SUX). Northwest Iowa is taking that quart-size regulation very seriously!
We still think that Ziploc sponsored this regulation in order to force us to buy more plastic bags. (Despite what the cheeky TSA bloggers might say.) We've found this rule to be unevenly enforced; some airports didn't even require us to take our liquid sack out of our carry-on.
What's the most ridiculous signage you've seen out in the field?
Related Stories:
· If We Give Up Our Exclamation Points, the Terrorists Win! [PAN]
· TSA Circus Continues; Ziplock Stock Gets a Boost [Jaunted]
· Airport Security coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo: timoni]
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Visit our Candidates Travel Map to plan your attack on the Hawkeye State.
It's almost here! The Iowa caucus is tomorrow, officially kicking off the 2008 Presidential primary season. Do you know who you're voting for? Neither do we!
If you're in Iowa right now, you're probably within a stone's throw of a major candidate. Barack Obama's Stand for Change tour takes him to Cedar Rapids, Waterloo and Des Moines tonight, while Hillary Clinton can be spotted in Indianola, Mason City and Burlington. John Edwards threw a midnight caucus party in Atlantic, Iowa today, but he's hitting Iowa City and Cedar Rapids as well, with a caucus learning event in Grinnell tonight and a free rally with Bruce Springsteen concert afterwards.
On the Republican side, Mitt Romney has been attending house parties and has scheduled an Election Night party in West Des Moines. Both John McCain and Mike Huckabee are splitting their time in Iowa with other destinations; McCain's coming to Dubuque from Derry, New Hampshire where he's been stumping with Sen. Joe Lieberman, while Huckabee's off to Southern California tonight to be the first post-strike guest on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
The New Hampshire primary is next Tuesday, so don't let down your guard yet! Ready or not, the race is on for real.
Related Stories:
· Hillary's Stump Man Endures Robot Protest [Jaunted]
· Fred Finds Iowa's Heart Three Sizes Too Small [Jaunted]
· Candidates Travel Map [Jaunted]
[Photo: PoliticalPulse.net]]]>
Go straight to our Candidates Travel Map
'Twas the day after Christmas, all through the Midwest
Each candidate snuggled in his war-room nest
Except for Fred Thompson. Poor Fred and his bus
Went plowing through snowdrifts, campaigning for us.
With less than a week before the primary
Fred's not doing hot and it's getting quite scary.
Was it because we don't like "Law and Order"?
Or was it because his platform was disordered?
Yet to Creston, Urbandale, Chariton he'll go
His fitness as president he hopes to show.
If you see his gold bus, give a honk or a wave.
He's not quitting yet, and that's pretty brave.
Thompson vows his support will get finer.
After Iowa find him in South Carolina.
Related Stories:
· Fred Thompson's Upbeat in Iowa [NYDN]
· Fred Thompson coverage [Jaunted]
· Candidates Travel coverage [Jaunted]
[Photo of Fred in September: bmcvey]]]>
Mike Huckabee is glad to remind you that Jesus is the reason for the season. The former Arkansas governor traveled further into Iowa's heartland this week, hitting up the small towns of Dike, Marshalltown, Waterloo and Manchester. While John McCain chose to share a message with audiences in Iowa about a Christmas spent as a POW, Huckabee didn't let his audience forget that he is, after all, a Baptist minister.
Huckabee's latest campaign vid, above, is catching a little heat from conspiracy theorists who say there's a well-positioned cross in the background. We say it's too bad Chuck Norris doesn't show up in this clip, like he has in the past.
If you're not planning a trip to rural Iowa anytime soon [Ed. note: You're not?!], don't despair. You can still see the tech savvy Huckabee during his live webcast on New Year's Day. Don't worry: It's at 7:30 pm, so you'll have plenty of time to recover from the night before.
Related Links:
· Huckabee, Back in Iowa, Brings Christmas Message [NYT]
· Huckabee Live from Des Moines, January 1 [Official Site]
· 2008 Candidates Travel Coverage [Jaunted]]]>
The last debate before the Iowa caucus concluded last night in a Des Moines-area TV studio. Here's the rundown.
Despite rumblings behind the scenes--a Clinton staffer resigned after comments that Obama's cocaine use as a teen would hurt his bid for the presidency--the fight last night seemed clean, and even friendly at times. Obama offered Hillary a job as his advisor and also forgave Senator Joe Biden for referring to him as "clean" and "articulate."
I have absolutely no doubt about what is in his heart and the commitment that he has made with respect to racial equality in this country. So I will provide some testimony, as they say in church, that Joe is on the right side of the issues and is fighting every day for a better America.
Biden stood out from the pack for the first time, really. His discussion of the tragic car accident that took the life of his wife and daughter seemed heartfelt rather than a sympathy ploy, and he seemed to finally shirk the accusations of racism against him. Twenty days till the Iowa caucus!
Related Stories:
· 2008 Candidates Travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Candidates Travel Map [Jaunted]
[Photo: Des Moines Register]]]>