Chewy Toyz
In other words, some things to chew on this weekend.
1) What did folks think of Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's speech about religion on Thursday? He only mentioned his Mormon faith once. On the one hand it got the issue out in front of the voters. Polling suggests that 1 in 4 voters would be less likely to vote for a Mormon candidate for President. But the blog wonders whether the speech reminded the evangelical vote on why they shouldn't vote for him.
2) Speaking of the Evangelical movement, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is surging ahead in a recent Newsweek poll. As a commenter pointed out in an earlier post, this may have a lot to do with the Evangelical vote. Does Huckabee have the staying power to win Iowa? The GOP nomination? The presidency? Will Huckabee's background as a Baptist Minister give him problems in a general election?
3) Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd is criticizing Illinois Senator Barack Obama for pushing Iowa students who pay out of state tuition to come back to Iowa to participate in the caucuses. The caucuses are on January third which is right smack in the middle of winter break for many schools. The controversy started when Des Moines Register Columnist David Yepsen wrote that Iowans would not look favorabll on Obama's push. Here's a Politico story on the subject. Do you think Iowans will care that much? Is it bad to tell a student who grew up in Ilinois, Minnesota or Wisconsin but now spends nine months out of the year going to school in Iowa that they should not drive back to participate in the Caucuses?
4) Finally, the New York Times has an interesting story on the problems pollsters are having in a cell phone universe. Have you given up your landline? Would you even take a call from a pollster? Does this now mean younger voters won't be sampled appropriately?
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