The Pres. Races Heat Up (On Both Sides)

By Sam Garchik

This is getting strange. Barack Mania (at 17k in Springfield and counting) is rolling through Iowa. Tom Miller and Mike Fitzgerald both endorsed him, saying that the Iraq War was the reason they favored him. By the way, I'm not including a web reference because the Obama campaign is EMAILING IT ALL to me. So I'm kind of already disposed to wait and see where this all goes. Can the Barackinator really keep this up for an entire year? I mean, if every appearance is 10,000 a pop, he, heaven forbid, won't have to go to the state fair for corn dogs.

In other caucus news, there's big action up at the Caucus Cooler. This is an honorable blog, and one I read for real news and honest reporting. I was surprised to see that they are in the midst of a heavy controversy. Apparently, people criticizng Romney's religion have forced the Cooler to change the way they allow posts to appear. There reasoning deserves an extensive quote:

"What is even more sad is that while we are behaving like animals, Iowa Democrats are acting like adults with respect and compassion. While we are eating our own Drew Miller, Chris Woods and other Iowa Democrat blogs maintain a civil and considerate discourse. That distinction should make everyone involved extremely embarrassed. And we cannot blame it on the out-of-staters that visit this blog, because the most offensive comments and the comments with the worst language were written by those who are part of the Iowa Republican community....This blog has been a part of the negative, self-destructive behaviour that many in our party have participated in and we want to sincerely apologize to anyone who was hurt because of that."

For us Democrat bloggers, this news comes as a reminder that we need to take our role seriously. Also, it reminds us that the Republicans are capable of honest dicussions, and self-evaluation to a degree we may not often ascribe to them. The Cooler deserves great praise in taking this step.