“This is why the Rasmussen pollsters have Sen. Thompson doing better than others, in that they are trying to poll folks who are most likely to vote in Republican primaries and caucuses.”
The interesting thing is Iowa, both Thompson and Huckabee aren’t far behind Romney. If Thompson takes Iowa by stealth, and everyone writes off New Hampshire as being Blue anyway, the dynamics of the race might get very interesting.
“The interesting thing is Iowa, both Thompson and Huckabee aren’t far behind Romney.”
Boring rebuttal - Romney is way out in front:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1918003/posts
REPUBLICANS
Mitt Romney, 36 percent
Rudy Giuliani, 13 percent
Mike Huckabee, 13 percent
Fred Thompson, 11 percent
John McCain, 6 percent
___
“The interesting thing is Iowa, both Thompson and Huckabee aren’t far behind Romney. If Thompson takes Iowa by stealth, and everyone writes off New Hampshire as being Blue anyway, the dynamics of the race might get very interesting.”
Except that he won’t, and really doesn’t care if he does...because for the GOP, Iowa and New Hampshire are largely irrelevant because they’ve both trended Democratic. We knew that about New Hampshire already, but Iowa will now join it on the irrelevant list. McCain won New Hampshire in 2000. See where that got him.
South Carolina is the bellweather for the GOP nomination now. And the rest of the south following it. The GOP candidates have to lock up the south first now.