Well done indeed!!!!
Noted: GMP1, which is grinning ear-to-ear, will restrain itself from pounding itself on the back and screaming from the rooftops at the DC-NYC corridor, "WE TOLD YOU SO!"
Because that wouldn't be gentlemanly.
And, in all seriousness, we are just so happy for our man (and now Iowa's man!) Mike Huckabee that we don't want to ruin it.
Congratulations Mr. Huckabee.
You earned it.
Senator McCain in New Hampshire on the phone with Governor Huckabee in Iowa.
Johnny Mac called the former Arkansas Governor earlier tonight to congratulate Huckabee on his Caucus win.
They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. And look at the smile on the Senator from Arizona's face.
Noted: You should see the smile on our face that we were lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time for this photograph. Pure. Dumb. Luck.
Iowa is finally over.
Now it's New Hampshire's turn.
Marc Ambinder has great video of Huckabee giving his closing argument on the stump in Iowa.
It explains a lot about why we think Mike Huckabee is the second best choice behind John McCain to be the GOP nominee in 2008.
Huckabee isn't perfect, but he's decent, authentic and great on the issues of education, health care and the environment.
Which is not a bad place for the GOP to be heading in the 2008 general election.
So why doesn't Rush Limbaugh just go jump in a lake?
A very, very effective closing argument for John Edwards in Iowa.
The former Senator is a large side of Democrat to go along with your serving of Democrat.
Which ain't a bad place to be in a Democratic Primary.
Jon Martin and Mark Halperin covered Huckabee's presser in Iowa earlier today.
And, to put it mildly, it was confusing.
But it was certainly not a meltdown (nice try Mitt).
And it might even get Huck some "interesting" (defined as the narrative that is contained within the parentheses of our post title above) earned media in the next 24 hours.
Time will tell.
But before media and campaign professionals get all "the bubble has burst on Huckabee in Iowa" remember that the former Arkansas Governor has been doing it his way all along.
And Huck is still in a statistical dead heat with Mitt Romney in Iowa after being outspent 4,000,000,000,o000 to 1. And after having been totally ignored (or written-off) by those same professionals until 5 months ago.
So before anyone passes (public) judgment on what Team Huckabee Iowa is up to, why not wait until Thursday night?
It's going to be a squeaker.
h/t The Page for the pic
Huck's new ad going up in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina tomorrow.
The Huck knows his earned and paid media.
Big time.
And Team Romney just lost their lunch in a Iowa/New Hampshire/South Carolina bathroom (and so would Team Giuliani if they yet understood how in trouble they were with Huckabee as well).
Because how in God's name do you go negative on the celebration of the birth of Christ and being with your family over the holidays?
You can't.
17 days till Iowa.
Checkmate?
---
(UPDATED) Mitt's also up with a new ad in Iowa. A negative compare/contrast ad with Huck. An ad that talks about Meth and murderers.
Bad timing Team Romney.
Very bad timing.
This $1.8 million ad buy goes up tomorrow in New Hampshire and Iowa.
Compliments of Fred Davis and Strategic Perception, Inc.
We're 15 months and 700 posts old.
Some would argue that that's a lot of pontificating.
Maybe.
But we've had a hell of a lot of fun.
And while GMP1 is just getting warmed up to get wound down at the conclusion of the New Hampshire Primary, you may bet your bottom dollar that Monday Morning Clacker will be continuing on after January 8th.
More on that later.
For now we simply would like to give thanks - to our readers, to our sources and to the millions and millions and millions of dollars spent by the various campaigns to give us some absolutely incredible material to work with.
And we think that it is oh so very fitting that on the day that we turn 700, Team Willard officially hits the panic button in Iowa:
We don't like polls.
Especially Iowa Caucus polls with margin of error of 7 points.
But this new Iowa poll is worth pointing out.
If only because Iowa Team Romney has to be in a full blown panic.
Full. Blown. Panic.
HUCKABOOM!
---
(UPDATED) The very talented and smart Marc Ambinder asks if this Newsweek poll is really a gift for Mitt Romney because "it's always easier to beat expectations when you're expected to lose".
Marc raises a fair point.
If Mitt Romney hadn't already outspent Mike Huckabee 2,431,674,273,193,124,686 to 1 in Iowa.
And if Mitt's path to the nomination wasn't built around coming in 1st in the Iowa Caucus.
If Mitt loses Iowa to Huckabee it will be an unmitigated disaster for Team Romney.
No matter what the Gang of 500's expectations may or may not be.
No snark.
---
(UPDATED UPDATED) Mark Halperin weighs in and asks "What if Huckabee wins Iowa and McCain wins New Hampshire?"
Karl Rove pens a Obama strategy memo for today's FT.
It's worth a read.
But don't believe everything that you read.
It's not just Iowa anymore.
Everyone is running around trying to figure out "Which candidate (McCain, Romney, Thompson or Giuliani) most benefits from Huck's rise?"
We'll tell you who.
Huck.
h/t Real Clear Politics for the polling averages.
Huck does NOT like the cut of Mitt Romney's jib.
Too bad for Willard.
Team Giuliani has flatly denied having anything to do with the anti-Mormon calls.
Said Giuliani Communications Director Katie Levinson:
“There is no room for this sort of thing in politics. Our campaign does not support or engage in these types of tactics and it is our hope other campaigns will adhere to the same policy.”That's about as concrete a denial as one will find in politics.
We "understand" that when the boys at Western Wats--->(?)Tarrance Group--->(?)Team Giuliani aren't making polling calls in Iowa and New Hampshire regarding Mitt Romney's Mormonism, their phone team likes to keep their vocal chords fresh with some regular old prank calls.
And we've managed to get our hands on a copy of one of those prank calls.
"Pounds baby, pounds!"
Snark.
Happy Friday everyone!
Good heavens to Betsy!
The AP's Phill Elliott has the score.
So does Jon Martin.
We don't know what to make of this story yet.
Or, as a smart reporter friend of ours just told us, "sometimes a poll is just a poll".
Sure.
Because no one would believe that (NYcentric) Team Giuliani would be stupid enough to do a push poll in New Hampshire? On religion?
Right?
Righttttttttt.
This is about 48 hours old at this point, an eternity in the blogger world.
But we just love this video.
Love. It.
Why do the Democrats (seem to?) do such a better job of creative, humorous web videos than the Republicans?
And this video is so good because not only is it fun, but it serves a real purpose.
As Team Hillary Iowa's email list is surely finding out.
It's a tough night for Team Romney Iowa.
A really, really tough night.
Really though, who skips the Fox/Iowa debate?
It's the state party's own event.
In Iowa.
We're betting that Team Huckabee is "very disappointed with Team Romney's decision".
And letting everyone in Iowa know it.
Game f*cking on.
