Tag Archives: ames straw poll

No, she did not.  It’s a straw poll, an unscientific sampling, sort of like those polls where if you buy a vanilla ice cream it’s a vote for one guy and if you  buy a chocolate, it’s a vote for the other, which don’t take into account that well over

Yup. It's definitely the eyes.

50% of Americans couldn’t give a rat’s ass about politics, probably don’t even know who the candidates are, and really  just came into the shop to get some ice cream.  Cheating is more or less allowed.

Here’s the situation:  the Ames Straw Poll is a fund raiser for the Iowa Republican party, and since Iowa has such a key role in American presidential races, it’s taken on a lot more significance than it deserves.  Candidates set up booths, give out free food, maybe balloons, stuff like that.  Anyway, Michelle Bachmann won it, Ron Paul came in a very close 2nd, Tim Pawlenty ran 3rd and promptly dropped out of the race, which surprised the hell  out of me, because he still beat Cain, Perry, Romney, Gingrich, Santorum and McCotter.

Anyway, some of Ron Paul’s people are upset at the way things turned out, and they  are crying foul.  What Bachmann did was she signed up country music artist Randy Travis to give a concert and gave away 6,000 tickets  but on the condition that recipients vote for her.  In the end, she got 4,800 votes (So, some back-stabbing deadbeats took her free tickets and still voted for somebody else.  These are probably the same people who stay at an  all you can eat buffet for 6 hours, so they can get in two meals), beating Ron Paul by about 150 votes.  Basically, she bought the election, but there’s nothing in the rules of the Ames Straw Poll that says you can’t do  that.

She spent about a million dollars, in total, but it was money well  spent.  She forced T-Paw out of the race and got a ridiculous amount of  good press out of it.  Newspapers called it “Michele’s Big Win” and had pictures of her in confetti covered glory as if she’d just been elected president or something.

For some reason, the press loves Michele Bachmann.  I think  it must be the eyes.