On the Campaign Trail with Ed Tibbetts

John Edwards presidential campaign announced today that Joe Trippi is joining his team as a senior advisor. Trippi, a familiar name for Iowa Democrats, was Howard Dean’s campaign manager.

Read his blog entry about joining the campaign here.

Mitt Romney’s campaign today released his Scott County team in advance of his 5:15 p.m. visit to The Lodge in Bettendorf.

Roby Smith, who lost a bid for the Statehouse last year, will chair the county effort. Also on the team: State Rep. Linda Miller, R-Bettendorf, ex-county supervisor Greg Adamson, Paul Janecek, co-chair of the county party, and Vincie Metcalf, a longtime activist.

Brian Kennedy of Bettendorf, who lost a 1st district congressional bid, has been retained as a consultant by the campaign.

So, Iowa’s never been a place to raise presidential cash.

We poke, prod, quiz and judge the candidates. But, heavens, we don’t give them any cash. Not really.

Case in point, the 1st quarter financial reports the presidentials filed Sunday. The Center for Responsive Politics tallied up the state-by-state giving and, it said, Iowans parted with $138,618.

Not too many states gave less. The Dakotas, Alaska, Maine. Even Idaho gave a quarter million.

California was at the top of the list, at about $20 million in donations.

Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who led the GOP money race, raised the most money in IOwa, at $40,750, according to CRP. Most of it came from the western part of the state.

John Edwards was the leading Democrat, at $29,165. Half of his money came from the Des Moines area.

Here in the Quads, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., led the Democrats with $6,400 in donations. Rudy Giuliani, with $3,000, led the Republicans. All told, Quad-Citians gave about $19,000 in the 1st quarter.

You can check out the rest here.