Caucus Time!

Amazing that it has been seven days since I last posted. I had a lot to say but when it came time for posting I waited and waited since I got caught up in two things this past week -- 1.) the US presidential campaigns and 2.) college football championship.

So now I offer a review of what happened during the last week:

• Iowa Caucus -- my home state of Iowa has historically kicked off the presidential campaign process for over thirty years now. Iowa is unique in that it has a "caucus" versus a "primary election" thus requiring candidates to focus on retail politics where they actually have to talk with voters on a personal level. Personally I am a huge advocate of the caucus system so I was pleased when I heard the national journalists who were reporting from Iowa say that the "caucus system is a very interesting process that is really good for the election system........." (my paraphrasing several sources). Yes this is a great alternative to a system where the best-funded candidates would simply focus on the "Big Four" states of -- California, New York, Texas, and Florida to raise money to blanket the nation with television ads.
• College Football -- I love college football but hate the NCAA's "Bowl Championship Series" which is essentially a mythical championship versus having a legitimate playoff system. However my lack of faith in the BCS format did not keep me from watching Ohio State University get defeated by Louisiana State University. I was cheering for the Buckeyes so I was sad to see them lose.
• New Hampshire Primary -- Yes an amazing turnaround victory for Senator Hillary Clinton (New York) in the Democratic Party primary after her loss to Senator Barack Obama (Illinois) in the Iowa caucus. Based on state proximity - New York close to New Hampshire and Illinois close to Iowa -- we really should have expected these candidates to do very well/win the states in their geographic region. If anything I would say since she grew up in Chicago, Illinois Senator Clinton should have performed better than third place in Iowa especially since she considered moving to Illinois to launch her political career (opting for New York State instead) when her and Bill completed their removal of furniture from the White House!!!

More elections to come but college football is done until August 2008 which is probably the saddest news in this posting,

Todd