On the Campaign Trail with Ed Tibbetts

(5:30 p.m.) Davenport’s Mark Strauss not only got the unusual distinction of posing questions in both the Democratic and Republican debates sponsored by CNN and You Tube, but now he’s also joined the ranks of the “plants.”

Ever since Wednesday’s Republican presidential debate, Strauss, a 49-year-old manufacturer’s representative, has been electronically poked and prodded– and not just by Ron Paul backers who didn’t like his suggestion the Texas congressman couldn’t win the GOP nomination and ought to run as an independent. He’s also been targeted by right-wing bloggers who have accused CNN of not vetting its questioners adequately.

That’s putting it charitably.

Mostly, the network’s been accused of planting hostile questions because they’re slanted against the Republicans.

The best example was Keith Kerr, the retired general who’s on one of Hillary Clinton’s advisory committees. He got a question asked. Since, CNN has expressed its regrets.

The other “plants” aren’t as obvious. One used to intern for a Democrat; another, they said, is a backer of John Edwards.

And then there’s this Strauss guy. So who is he?

After talking to him the last couple days he seems to me a guy who doesn’t like the war, has a web site called www.my-america.biz, isn’t registered to vote — but nevertheless has a lot of opinions about politics and likes to share them.

He likes Bill Richardson. And Mike Huckabee, too. He gave $50 to Richardson “a few months ago,” but denies he’s ever volunteered for him.

By the way, he says he’s not going to vote for either because he’s not going to the caucuses in January. And, he says he won’t do that because he won’t — just won’t — register as a Republican or a Democrat.

He says he’s never voted for a Democratic presidential candidate, but voted for Ross Perot once and George H.W. Bush twice. Now he thinks he should’ve voted for Ross Perot twice.

He liked going to St. Petersburg, Fla., for the debate, toured the CNN bus, had no idea his question would get asked, posted a bunch of questions to You Tube, including one aimed at Mitt Romney which he really wanted but didn’t get.

While in Florida, he got to check in on a couple clients, went fishing and found the weather to be kind of muggy.

Since he came back to Davenport, he’s been collecting the comments made about him on the Internet, did a gig Friday on a Boston radio station where he gave as good as he got with some guys with funny accents. And he watched the Dallas/Green Bay football game Thursday night. Not sure who he rooted for.

That’s what I know. Good luck to the rest of y’all.

(9:50 a.m.) Ex-presidential candidate Dick Gephardt will be back in the QC on Sunday. He’ll campaign for Hillary Clinton. Location TBA.

Gephardt finished 4th in the 2004 caucuses, but he’s still a favorite with the unions.

(9:50 a.m.) Two Q-C mayors will announce their support for Rudy Giuliani’s candidacy today. Bettendorf Mayor Mike Freemire and Moline Mayor Don Welvaert both said they’re throwing in with the former NYC mayor.

Both cited his record in NYC.

This summer, Davenport Mayor Ed Winborn endorsed John McCain’s candidacy.

(8:40 a.m.) Despite what you’ve heard, caucusing is easy.

Really, it is. Really.

Hillary Clinton says so. Now, Barack Obama, too.

The Illinois senator’s campaign has created a web site to explain the caucus process, which it released today.

A video (with an introduction by the senator) includes the staging of a caucus with people dividing into preference groups and then dealing with the viability piece that confuses so many.

You can find it here.

Gordon Fischer, the former Iowa Democratic Party chair, and now an Obama supporter, is the narrator. The caucus even slyly touts his blog, called Iowa True Blue.

The video takes a decidedly different tack than the Clinton one, which was a tongue-in-cheek piece featuring her husband and ex-Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack The Obama video reminds me of one of those films you watched in high school. Very basic.

(4:15 p.m.) New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner said today the state’s primary will be Jan. 8. That’s five days after the Iowa caucuses.

The decision came after Michigan’s Supreme Court ruled the state could have its primary Jan. 15.

Bottom line: Iowa still has the first caucus; New Hampshire, the first primary. The natural order of things? For this cycle, anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving.

(12:37 p.m.) It was probably inevitable. With all the attention on Iowa’s caucuses, could Oprah Winfrey really be far behind?

The Chicago Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet reports that Barack Obama told a man in New Hampshire that Winfrey, who’s endorsed Obama, would be coming to the Hawkeye State.

While working the crowd in Manchester, Obama reportedly told a man inquiring whether Oprah would hit the campaign trail, told him, “first, she’s coming to Iowa.” Obama also indicated he’d go to New Hampshire, too.

You can read Sweet’s full post here.

No confirmation from the Obama camp on a visit. Tommy Vietor, his spokesman, would only say: “The only univerally adored role model I can confirm is coming to Iowa in December is Santa.”

(2:20 p.m.) Hillary Clinton released a new video today aimed at convincing folks that caucusing isn’t all that hard, and she’s enlisted some famous faces to help.

The schtick is to show stuff that’s hard (exercising, dancing, singing), then say caucusing is easy.

It’s cute, but there’s a serious side to it.

One of the reasons people don’t caucus is they’re afraid of the whole thing.

Think of the news articles you’ve read about caucusing. Cold night. Hours spent at a public meeting. You’ve got to publicly declare your vote. Viability threshholds, etc., etc., etc.

Clinton’s video is a clever way to try, as they put it, to “demystify” the whole thing. Other campaigns are doing the same thing. And, on Jan. 3, winning is likely to hinge in large part on not just selling a message but convincing people that it’s not so hard to caucus. After all, can it be as tough as watching Tom Vilsack dance?

(1:50 p.m.) Hillary Clinton’s campaign has taken a pledge.

The senator’s Iowa spokesman, Mark Daley, released a statement today saying it would sign any pledge affirming “our long-standing policy that any staffer or volunteer who has come to Iowa for the sole purpose of working on the campaign should not be allowed to caucus.”

Rival Chris Dodd’s campaign last week asked the other Democratic hopefuls to promise that no out-of-state staff or volunteers caucus or be counted as a caucus goer on Jan. 3.

Fears of corruption arose last cycle, too, but amounted to nothing. Still, Clinton’s campaign has come under fire for “planting” questions with a couple of Iowans, so promising early on to keep its non-Iowa staff from caucusing is probably wise.