OK, here’s where the Presidential Campaign of 2012 stands now. First off, last month, unelectable Pizza Magnate Herman Cain “suspended” his campaign, in a fog of sexual misconduct allegations. The final straw was when Ginger White accused him of having a 13-year affair. So ends that sideshow. Newt Gingrich jumped into Cain’s spot as flavor of the month, but he quickly became distasteful to voters.
By the time of the Iowa Caucus on January 3rd, 2012 Newt had lost his luster, coming in fourth. Unsurprisingly, Mitt Romney won with 30,015 votes, however the big surprise of the day was Rick Santorum with 30,007 votes, only 8 less than Romney! It turns out Rick, who had only a small amount of money compared to the other candidates, had replaced money with hard work. He visited all 99 counties in Iowa, speaking to potential voters and it paid off. It's impressive enough that I almost regret how I have depicted him on this blog. Almost. Of course, he can’t use that approach in every state; there just isn’t enough time for that.
In third place, Ron Paul with 26,219 votes, more than double what he got here in 2008. This was as good as a victory to his cultish fans and much better than anyone expected. Between the three of them, this equals 70 percent (if you could combine them into one Super-Candidate it could in theory beat Obama) but bear in mind that this is 70 percent of 5.4% of the total voters in Iowa. Yes, this was a “record turnout” and it only drew that small a percentage of the registered voters!
Michele Bachmann also set a record; she had the largest drop in popularity in Iowa history from winning the straw poll to losing the caucuses. She won the straw poll in August with 28.6 percent of the vote but on January 3rd, she only received 5 percent of the votes, which put her in 6th place! She has quit her campaign; here at The Strangest Adventures, we’ll miss her. Meanwhile 4th place Newt Gingrich, 5th place Rick Perry, and 6th place Jon Huntsman continue on. Next stop, New Hampshire!
If you are still reading at this point, perhaps you enjoy this type of humor enough to want a The Strangest Adventures T-Shirt. I’ve tried to include the main candidates in the 2012 Presidential election in this homage to the Justice League/Justice Society/All-Star Squadron team-up of the 1980’s, Crisis on Earth Prime. This is my first “official” foray into T-Shirt design, aside from home printed and applied iron-ons for myself and others, an early noble design experiment. I would appreciate any feedback, positive or negative, that anyone could provide. And note, I have provided inexpensively priced shirts for the tight of budget as well as premium style shirts. Wear this shirt to tell others you think the candidates are as much of a freak show as I see them to be, well at least in my fevered imagination! Your support would be appreciated; this would supplement my meager earnings from freelance work.
Jon Huntsman appeared at the Statue of Liberty this week to announce he was running for president. Who is Jon Huntsman though? He’s a former Utah governor, recent ambassador to China, and holder of last place in the latest Gallup poll…for now. So why would Obama fear him? Quite simply, Huntsman is considered the most moderate of the GOP candidates, and thus the most likely to beat Obama in 2012 in the general election. However, Huntsman has to face the grueling Republican primaries and therein lays several problems. For one, the GOP has been shifting to the right since the 1990’s; Ambassador Huntsman’s approval for civil unions, supporting climate change legislation, and being in favor of an individual mandate could kill his chances. Another factor is his religion. He’s a Mormon, just like current front-runner Mitt Romney. They could end up splitting Mormon support, to their mutual detriment. All indications are, he has been adverse to dirty tricks and name-calling, techniques that are almost de rigueur in modern primaries. “I don't think you need to run down anyone's reputation to run for president.” At this point he seems to be, at best, a long shot. Still, should he get the nomination, we can expect a clean race. As it is, it will be a tough decision in 2012. Do we vote for the Republicans that got us into this mess or the Democrats who can't seem to get us out of it? Only time will tell.
