Well, I did discover someone is reading my posts :-)

And this is why you never put a counter on your page. If you want to keep track of who comes to your site, set up Google Analytics.

Seriously, though, they asked why I am down on Mike Huckabee, as he's polling so well in Iowa.

Well, as much as I think Mike is a good man, I believe he is this campaign's beneficiary of the 'Iowa No-Name Bump'.

Let me explain. It seems every campaign season that comes around to Iowa, someone come out that is really surprising. That person, then, proceeds to flounder by South Carolina's primary and is out of the race. I'm afraid since the one-issue candidates are falling a bit faster this time, Governor Huckabee is going to be this years 'if only...'. Phil Gramm is an example of this kind of candidate, as he looked a lot stronger in Iowa than he really was and withdrew only a couple of more primaries into the campaign.

I do admit sometimes this works in reverse in Iowa. Someone who should have done well comes in, say...third. This kills that candidate as well. If you want an example of this, just ask Howard Dean.

Iowa can give a bump as well. John Kerry and John Edwards capitalized on the Dean fall. But, since we're into our third year of campaigning for the Presidency, I don't think we're going to get a surprise from Iowa. Nationally, Huckabee is coming in fourth (despite what Ron Paul supporters say), but with the "accelerated" (as much as you can call this campaign that considering they started the day after the Iraq invasion) primary season, the two nominees are going to be set by the end of February. That's not going to be enough time to generate the cash to get people motivated.

By the way, don't worry about the Republican cash flow not coming in. The majority of the party is sitting in a wait-and-see mode. We don't have a definitive candidate yet, though Pat Robertson endorsing Rudy Guiliani has started up the anti-Guiliani stories early from the supposed unbiased media. Its the general election that matters, and many money men from the Republican side are waiting until then to make their move.