2 Hours to Go
Posted on January 3, 2012 at 6.37 pm
In less than two hours, Iowa caucusgoers will begin their complicated process of selecting their preferred candidate for the Republican nomination for the presidency. So here’s an update of some stuff which has been happening in the final days of the Iowa campaign:
- Attacks, attacks, and more attacks. Even from Gingrich, who had vowed not to go negative but ultimately found that strategy unsuccessful.
- Ron Paul is in competition only with Mitt Romney for viral support on Facebook, but even Romney willingly conceded that Paul’s ads against Newt Gingrich were the best of the campaign season — and an Iowa State prof agrees. On Twitter, WaPo finds Paul is king uncontested, beating out even the President for mentions.
- In terms of last ditch efforts, Santorum is relying on lots of personal appearances; Perry is spending big on TV ad buys; and Bachmann appears to seriously expect divine intervention.
- Many Iowa voters are heading to the caucuses still undecided — a remarkable feat after no less than 18 debates. Interestingly, Romney’s“ignore Iowa” strategy has pulled him basically the exact same percentage of support he had after a huge campaign in the state in ‘08. Newt, meanwhile, has essentially admitted defeat in Iowa after voters got to know him a little too well.
- Finally, Buzzfeed has found a strong similarity between the campaign plans of Ron Paul 2012 and Barack Obama 2008 in an article titled “Ron Paul’s Secret Plan to Actually Win.” I’m not sure this plan is supposed to be a secret, but here’s hoping he does indeed win.
