Biden story in Politico

[Debi]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1007/6238.html

[lyonn]

1. True, if Biden could come in 4th in Iowa who knows

With his pitiful polling numbers at this point someone would be afraid to say he had much of a chance. Yet, the favorites in 04 were surprised how the caucus' vote turned out. It truly is a weird system.

[gateley]

2. I don't have a grasp on the whole caucus thing. nt

[Debi]

10. Go read post #9 n/t

[Debi]

9. Hey now....

That's not very nice :P

Here's a good run-down of how the Iowa caucuses work (and why it's good for Biden to be some folks' second choice in case their candidate ends up being non-viable)


http://people.howstuffworks.com/question721.htm

[jillan]

11. Sorry if this is a dumb question

Since Biden has so many endorsements in Iowa - does that help him with the caucuses?

[Debi]

12. Know that your answer is coming from a non-expert..

Yes and no.

Yes in that he will have each of those folks as a 'one' on caucus night (and hopefully their family members and some supporters). Yes in that many of the folks that have endorsed him are very hard grass-roots campaigners (Bukta in Clinton County - Moritz in Scott County - Dolan/Goodmann in Dubuque County just to name a few) these people will make calls, knock on doors, mail letters to their friends - really bust their butts for Joe Biden. One thing that an endorsement will do (if it's from a well organized campaigner w/in the state) is let loose that supporters machine on behalf of the candidate (Christie Vilsack and the Fire Fighters for John Kerry in 2004 for instance).

No in that voters in Iowa are VERY independent. Most of us want to see each and every candidate before we make up our minds and even when we've made up our minds we want to be kept in the loop by the campaign staff. Howard Dean knows that 'ones' that aren't kept in the campaign will stray to other candidates come caucus night. No in that we don't always give a hoot who our local legislator or city council member supports. This is our vote and nobody will tell us who to give it to. When it's our candidate vs. the opposing candidate that's one thing, when it's our vote for a single candidate vs. seven others we have more flexibility. (See Dick Gephardt and the UAW's endorsement in 2004 - he came in fourth).

Did I confuse you enough?

[jillan]

13. No - you did a great job explaining! Thank you.

[gateley]

3. I just went back and read this again - check out the comments. nt

[jillan]

4. Thr comments are better than the article!

[lyonn]

5. On another post someone is claiming politico.com is repub?

It's hard to keep up with who's who in the media zoo. There were some fairly negative comments concerning Biden's ability to overcome his low polls, etc. Biden's comments about his ability to succeed was good. Hummm?

[jillan]

6. They definitely lean to the right.

[Froward69]

7. Check out the comments on you tube.

Those for Biden are allmost poetry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OhPG7mk8yQ

[jillan]

8. I just posted this in g.d. politics -

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3595061&mesg_id=3595061