Posts Tagged ‘Iowa’

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LinkSwarm for February 1, 2016

Monday, February 1st, 2016

The Iowa Caucuses are today! Why they’re Monday rather than the usual Tuesday, I couldn’t tell you. (And speaking of elections, today is your last day to register to vote in the March 1 Texas primary.)

Here’s a LinkSwarm with more than a dollop of presidential election news:

  • ObamaCare is an exercise in moving goalposts:

    Back in 2015 the CBO estimated 21 million Obamacare enrollees in 2016. They are now estimating 13 million will sign up this year. How many will actually sign up is not going to be known for another year or so, but I wouldn’t particularly bet on it being more than 21 million, and I wouldn’t particularly counsel against thinking that it’ll be less than 13 million.

    Oh, the news gets better. The original claim that 11 million people signed up for Obamacare in 2015 has likewise been revised by this report, which now apparently reports 9.5 million. And here’s something that will really reassure folks worried about our deficits: the original assumption was that there would be 15 million subsidized plans and 6 million unsubsidized ones in 2015, or 71%/29%. The actual totals were 11 million subsidized, 2 million unsubsidized, or 85%/15%. Let me put it a different way: the Obama administration has managed to somehow simultaneously drastically miss their signup goals AND do so in a way where there won’t even a commensurate savings for taxpayers.

  • “The Clintons have made careers of defying our assumptions about how low they can go.”
  • Hillary’s emails disqualify her from the presidency. “There is near certainty that at least the Russians and the Chinese but also the Iranians and North Koreans were reading all incoming and outgoing email to Hillary in real time from almost the moment she hooked up her ‘home brew’ server.” (Hat tip: Instapundit.)
  • More on the subject by Guy Benson at Townhall.
  • Bernie Sanders: The bum who wants your money. “Despite a prestigious degree, however, Sanders failed to earn a living, even as an adult. It took him 40 years to collect his first steady paycheck — and it was a government check.”
  • Republicans are more engaged in Iowa than Democrats.
  • Jim Geraghty offers up a forest of links why each of Ted Cruz, Donald Trump and Marco Rubio can win or lose tonight.
  • Ace of Spades is shocked, shocked that the Republican establishment is trying to take out Ted Cruz to help Marco Rubio.
  • Financial heavy hitter Sheldon Adelson is backing Cruz. (Hat tip: Conservatives4TedCruz.)
  • Watch Cruz turn around an Iowa farmer hostile over ethanol subsidies.
  • “If there is anyone with a chance of underperforming his 28 percent of the electorate (again, the new Register number), it is Trump. And if Trump does underperform, the question will be whether he falls enough for Cruz to catch him.” (Hat tip: Conservatives4TedCruz.)
  • Trump does poorly among Republicans with college degrees, but well among those with less education. “He is continually the candidate not only with the highest very favorable rating, but the highest very unfavorable rating. He is utterly unacceptable to a very significant portion of the Republican electorate.”
  • “Why there are so many things with titles like ‘Why I still believe Donald Trump will never be president.'”
  • “Jeb Bush kicks off 3 state farewell tour.”
  • Enivironmentalist predictions from 1970: “Demographers agree almost unanimously on the following grim timetable: by 1975 widespread famines will begin in India; these will spread by 1990 to include all of India, Pakistan, China and the Near East, Africa. By the year 2000, or conceivably sooner, South and Central America will exist under famine conditions.” (Hat tip: Ed Driscoll at Instapundit.)
  • EU goes out of the way to insist that widespread sexual assault by Islamic men in Cologne had nothing to do with Islamic ‘refugees.’
  • Another day, another 100 Nigerians killed by Boko Haram.
  • Finland farked.
  • Tips for non-western immigrants to America. “Perhaps this little rhyme can help: To live here in the West, God willing, just say no to honor killing.”
  • A whole lot of hedge funds are shorting the Yuan.
  • Larry Correia reports from the SHOT show.
  • The last gunsmith. (Hat tip: Dwight.)
  • Remembering Marvin Minsky, and how he cited Hayek in some of his work.
  • “Muslim Uber driver attacks pregnant woman’s service dog.”

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    Posted in Democrats, Economics, Elections, Global Warming, Guns, Jihad, Obama Scandals, ObamaCare, Republicans | No Comments »

    Ted Cruz vs. Donald Trump Update for January 31, 2016

    Sunday, January 31st, 2016

    Another installment on the battle between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Many of these links come from http://conservatives4tedcruz.blogspot.com/.

  • In Iowa it’s everyone vs. Cruz.
  • Cruz blasts Iowa governor Terry Branstad for his family benefiting from ethanol subsidies.
  • Glenn Beck’s site on Ted Cruz the candidate:

    Ted understands the gravity of our situation, and he understands how to right the wrongs of the past eight years by holding true to the principles of the U.S. Constitution. It’s all there, written long ago by the brilliant men who fought the fierce battle for freedom and liberty. We don’t need a bailout, we don’t need any new government programs. We need to return to the First Principles laid out for us by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson.

    Ted Cruz is the George Washington we’ve prayed for. He’s here — the man who understands that government is not the solution but the problem. Ted Cruz understands that the restraints placed on the government by the Constitution are a good thing.

  • Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund endorses Cruz. The piece says that they’re the largest Tea Party group in the country, which makes me wonder what criteria they used and how they determined that.
  • Even Marco Rubio acknowledges that Cruz is the frontrunner in Iowa.
  • Is 135,000 the magic number in Iowa? Turnout below that and Cruz wins, turnout above that and Trump wins? I’m going to need confirmation from the haruspices before accepting that conclusion…
  • Anti-Trump ad running in the Des Moines Register.
  • Both Cruz and Trump have several events in Iowa between now and the caucuses.
  • This Washington Post piece is probably a pretty good distillation of current inside-the-beltway thinking on Cruz’s chances of winning. Just remember the same insiders were talking about Jeb Bush’s inevitable triumph six months ago…
  • “Gallup: Trump Has Highest Unfavorable Rating of Any Candidate Ever.”
  • Byron York interviews Donald Trump. When Trump says “the Republicans are fighting each other,” it rather suggests Trump isn’t a Republican, doesn’t it? His answer as to why he’s religious (“I went through my Sunday school, I’ve done everything that you’re supposed to do”) is deeply unconvincing, as is repeated answers to questions about how conservative he is (“I’ve had tremendous polling numbers with conservatives”). On the other hand, defending his fiscal conservatism, when he says “I mean, we owe $19 trillion, this is going to destroy our country, we’re going to be destroyed,” well, he’s not lying…
  • Thomas Sowell to Donald Trump: Grow up.
  • Democratic analyst John B. Judis: The birth of a Trump-Sanders constituency. Some of his points are wrong and others Democratic Party talking points, but there’s still some interesting analysis here. “Both are critical of how wealthy donors and lobbyists dominate the political process, and both favor some form of campaign finance reform. Both decry corporations moving overseas for cheap wages and to avoid American taxes. Both reject trade treaties that favor multinational corporations over workers. And both want government more, rather than less, involved in the economy.” That last one speaks, yet again, to the point that Trump is not a conservative. See also “How Trump fights against the free market policies Republicans embraced” and “He has had little contact with, and shown little interest in, conservative ideology.”
  • “Dear Trump Voters, Your Darling Is a Two-Timing Cad.” This message is objectively true. However, I do note that the same issue did not seem to harm Bill Clinton’s career…
  • I’m a Cruz supporter, but just look at this “Wah, Trump hurt my feelings, why won’t Twitter kick him off” Social Justice Warrior drivel Slashdot has posted to their front page. Note the central lie that Trump’s Twitter account is “a trolling stream of hate and other abuses that would cause any average Twitter user to be terminated in a heartbeat” without actually offering any examples of same…

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    Ted Cruz vs. Donald Trump Roundup for January 28, 2016

    Thursday, January 28th, 2016

    With the Iowa Caucuses happening next week, I thought I’d finally concentrate on the big contest shaping up between Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. I’m backing Cruz, but this election year has been so odd I couldn’t possibly predict the outcome.

    A lot (but not all) of the links below come from the #CruzCrew daily briefings I get via email, and from http://conservatives4tedcruz.blogspot.com/.

  • Why Ted Cruz can win the general election.
  • Legal Insurrection makes the conservative case for Ted Cruz:

    Cruz was elected, as were so many other TEA Party candidates, to go to Washington and to stand for conservative principles in the face of opposition from both sides of the aisle, and unlike so many others, he did what he said he would do. He didn’t sell out, he didn’t jump on the DC gravy train, and he didn’t turn his back on his grassroots supporters or on his stated ideals and principles.

  • Trump is skipping tonight’s debate in Iowa.
  • Which is why Cruz is challenging Trump to a one-on-one debate.
  • Trump says he’ll be raising money for veterans groups during the debate. Veterans groups: leave us out of your stunt.
  • Rush Limbaugh: “I don’t think you can make Ted Cruz wilt. I don’t think there’s any kind of heat that’s going to cause him to shrink. He rises to the occasion. The thing about Ted Cruz is that you never have to doubt his conservatism.”
  • Mickey Kaus offers 8 theories on why the GOP Establishment is backing Trump over Cruz. Missing: They just think Trump is easier to manipulate and do deals with…
  • The Republican Establishment are backing Trump over Cruz because they fear Cruz is serious about conservative principles.
  • Family Research Council head Tony Perkins endorses Ted Cruz.
  • As does Dana Loesch.
  • As does North Carolina congressman Mark Meadows.
  • The pro-abortion media is incensed that Cruz is giving bottled water to pregnant women in Flint, Michigan. Because clean water is evidently a partisan issue in failing one-party Democratic cities…
  • Why the Iowa caucus rules will help Cruz…and Hillary Clinton.
  • Finally, if you haven’t seen National Review‘s “Against Trump” symposium (and my own issue hasn’t shown up in the mail yet), here it is.

    • Going to try to do one of these a day between now and Iowa. Keep in mind that I’ve been reporting on Ted Cruz here since he announced his senate run, for which I endorsed Cruz. If you’re just tuning into the election now, there’s a lot of information there on just how hard Cruz has been fighting for conservative causes…

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    Posted in Elections, Republicans | No Comments »

    Cruz Leads Trump By 10 Points In Iowa

    Sunday, December 13th, 2015

    It was easy to dismiss the first poll that showed Ted Cruz up over Donald Trump in Iowa as an outlier. However, a new Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll shows Cruz up a hefty 10 points over Trump.

    “Seven weeks from the caucuses, Ted Cruz is crushing it in Iowa.

    “The anti-establishment congressional agitator has made a rapid ascent into the lead in the GOP presidential race here, with a 21 percentage-point leap that smashes records for upsurges in recent Iowa caucuses history.”

    Snip.

    “‘Big shakeup,’ said J. Ann Selzer, pollster for The Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics Iowa Poll. ‘This is a sudden move into a commanding position for Cruz.'”

    Cruz is in a great spot. I just hope he’s not peaking too early…

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    Ted Cruz Leads Trump in Iowa

    Wednesday, December 9th, 2015

    There appears to be a new GOP front-runner in Iowa.

    Sen. Ted Cruz more than doubled his support among Iowa Republicans since October and now leads the field with 24%, according to a new Monmouth University Poll released today.

    It is the first time the Texas senator has been at the top of any early state poll of the 2016 cycle, according to Monmouth.

    Polls come and polls go, and others with different screens show different results in Iowa. But Cruz’s presidential campaign is mirroring the shape of his Senate campaign: Launch early, be a disciplined and indefatigable campaigner, and position yourself as the true conservative in the field. Just as in his campaign against David Dewhurst, Cruz has gone from no-chance, to long-shot, to competitive, to a serious force to be reckoned with.

    Other candidates sleep on him at their peril…

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    Sanders Leads Hillary by 10 in Iowa

    Monday, September 14th, 2015

    Early polls, plenty of time, yadda yadda. But there’s no way that a presumptive frontrunner should be down 10 points in Iowa to an elderly socialist.

    Also, in New Hampshire, Sanders leads Hillary “by a whopping 52 percent to 30 percent.”

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    “Those Who Count the Votes Decide Everything”

    Tuesday, June 9th, 2015

    Hey, remember how Microsoft and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation were collectively the largest donor to the Clinton Foundation?

    Well, guess who’s going to be providing the technical infrastructure to tally vote totals for the Iowa Caucuses?

    On Friday, the state’s Democratic and Republican partiesannounced a new system that will be used to count the votes cast by Iowans during the complicated election process. Authorized precinct representatives will use new apps to report results to their party headquarters in Des Moines, Iowa’s capital, when the election takes place early next year.

    The system is powered by Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform and was built by the tech giant in collaboration with its partner InterKnowlogy, which also made CNN’s Magic Wall election result reporting tool. It replaces a set-up that required precinct representatives to call into automated phone systems with no way of authenticating whether the person was authorized to do so and then record votes using their phone’s keypad. Representatives also mailed paper records to the party’s central office.

    If I were one of Hillary’s primary opponents, I’d think I’d want to look at that source code before trusting those tallies to be fair and accurate…

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    Ted Cruz’s Speech At The Iowa Freedom Summit

    Wednesday, January 28th, 2015

    Why yes, I am feeling a bit lazy today. Why do you ask?

    Sorry for the audio buzz, but it seems to be from the event itself rather than a video artifact.

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    Posted in Elections, Republicans, video | No Comments »

    Election News Roundup for November 3, 2014

    Monday, November 3rd, 2014

    Election day is tomorrow! Now would be a good time to locate your voter registration card…

  • Democrats come up with a brilliant new strategy to get their voters to the polls: threaten them. And yes, that letter did actually come from the New York Democratic Party. “Nice voter you got there. Be a shame if anything happened to it…”
  • Wendy Davis’ campaign may doom Battleground Texas efforts by alienating Hispanics.
  • “On Tuesday, it is all but inevitable that Greg Abbott’s campaign and Texas voters are going to beat Wendy Davis like a circus monkey.” I think this line is deeply unfair to circuses who treat their monkeys humanely…
  • Yet another area the Wendy Davis campaign isn’t strong in: math. Namely, their bragging that Democratic early voting was up from 2010 was false: “Hours later, the organization had to remove that memo from its website, after it became clear that Battleground Texas was using inaccurately low tallies from 2010.”
  • “Joni Ernst has charged to achieve a 7-point lead over Democrat Bruce Braley in a new Iowa Poll, which buoys the GOP’s hope that an Iowa victory will be the tipping point to a Republican takeover of the U.S. Senate.”
  • Speaking of Ernst, Tom Harkin has a unique pitch to vote against her: “Oh yeah, I’d totally bang that, but you shouldn’t vote for her because (R) and stuff.” Of course, I’m paraphrasing here…
  • Mary Landrieu says she’s unpopular because her Louisiana constituents are lousy, stinking sexist bigots. I’m sure they’ll enjoy hearing that…
  • The Charlotte Observer memory holes story on her family’s illegal graft. Reporting the news must rank considerably behind “Protecting Democrats” on The Charlotte Observer’s priority list…
  • Travis County GOP Guide to City Council candidates.
  • Travis County GOP on AISD, ACC, RRISD, etc. candidates.
  • More Travis County race information.
  • If you need additional reasons to vote against the latest rail boondoggle, here’s footage of the rally against it.
  • And here’s Holly Hansen’s rundown of RRISD races again.

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    Posted in Austin, Democrats, Elections, Republicans, Texas | No Comments »

    If You Don’t Think Ted Cruz is Running for President in 2016, You Haven’t Seen His Schedule

    Friday, April 11th, 2014

    Some political observers think Ted Cruz will pass on running in the 2016 Presidential race, including the very perceptive liberal law professor Alan Dershowitz, who says flatly that “Cruz won’t run in 2016.”

    I would suggest to those who don’t think Cruz is running should look at his travel schedule. This Saturday, for example, Cruz has a pretty hectic itinerary in New Hampshire:

    Saturday, April 12

    10:00 am ET – Nashua
    Greater Nashua NHGOP Day of Action Rally
    Nashua City Hall, Back Parking Lot
    229 Main Street
    Nashua, NH 03060

    11:00 am ET – Manchester
    Greater Manchester NHGOP Day of Action Rally
    Livingston Park, Pool Parking Lot
    14 Red Coat Lane (off Hooksett Road)
    Manchester, NH 03104

    1:35 pm ET – Manchester
    Sen. Cruz to hold media availability
    The Executive Court
    Media Room
    1199 South Mammoth Road
    Manchester, NH 03109

    2:15 pm ET – Manchester
    Sen. Cruz to speak at Americans for Prosperity “Freedom Summit”
    The Executive Court
    1199 South Mammoth Road
    Manchester, NH 03109

    He’s also been to Iowa this year:

    Tuesday, March 18

    1:40 pm CT – Des Moines, IA
    Sen. Cruz speaks at the Network of Iowa Christian Home Educators (NICHE) Homeschool Day at the Capitol
    Marriott Hotel Downtown
    Iowa Ballroom
    700 Grand Avenue
    Des Moines, IA 50309

    7:40 pm CT – Mason City, IA
    Sen. Cruz speaks at the Cerro Gordo County GOP Dinner
    The Music Man Square
    308 South Pennsylvania Avenue
    Mason City, IA 50401

    There were a significant number of events in Iowa and new Hampshire last year as well:

    Friday, October 25

    7:00 pm – Des Moines, IA
    Sen. Cruz keynotes 2013 Iowa GOP Ronald Reagan Dinner
    Community Choice Credit Union Convention Center
    Iowa Events Center
    730 3rd Street
    Des Moines, IA 50309

    NOTE: Sen. Cruz speaks at ~7:30 pm; he will take questions from the press following the program in room 402.

    Saturday, October 26

    12:00 pm – Les Mars, IA
    Sen. Cruz Speaks at Defenders of Freedom Banquet
    Le Mars Convention Center
    Banquet Hall
    275 12th Street, SE
    Le Mars, IA 51031

    NOTE: Sen. Cruz speaks at ~1:05 pm; he will take questions from the press following the program.

    Friday, August 23 – Dublin, New Hampshire

    4:45 p.m. ET
    Media Availability
    Knollwood Farm
    4 Windmill Hill Road
    Dublin, NH 03444

    6:30 p.m. ET
    New Hampshire GOP Summer Backyard Party
    Knollwood Farm
    4 Windmill Hill Road
    Dublin, NH 03444

    On Saturday, August 10, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz will speak at the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa.

    Saturday, August 10

    3:50 p.m. – Ames, IA
    Iowa State University
    Stephens Auditorium
    400 Beach Avenue
    Ames, IA 50011

    *NOTE: Sen. Cruz’s father, Rafael Cruz, will speak prior to the Senator at 3:35 p.m.

    If Cruz isn’t running, he’s sure spending an awful lot of time in Iowa and New Hampshire for a Senator from Texas.

    For an additional data point, note that there’s already a Draft Ted Cruz Super PAC that just happens to be run by Cruz regional director Raz Shafer (and a rare kudo for David Weigel for doing the leg, er, Google and WHOIS work).

    Finally, this video on the Ted Cruz for Senate YouTube channel sure sounds like a campaign ad:

    If I had to bet money, I’d say Cruz is running for the Presidency in 2016, and I think he’ll make a formidable candidate.

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    Posted in Elections, Republicans, video | No Comments »

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