McCain Win in New Hampshire Devastating to Romney

Robert Novak has a column out this morning in which he says last night's loss in New Hampshire for Mitt Romney was devastating:

Romney's loss here was devastating. He planned to boost his modest national
ratings with wins in Iowa and New Hampshire, where he led in spending,
organization and polls.

At the beginning of December, Romney enjoyed
twice as much New Hampshire support as McCain. The senator's local supporters
attribute his comeback to the endorsement here of independent Democratic Sen.
Joseph Lieberman. But what propelled McCain's victory was Romney's loss in Iowa
to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. The onetime Baptist preacher relied on
Iowa evangelicals, an asset lacking in New Hampshire.

The next two weeks are filled with promise for McCain and peril for Romney. Michigan, where Romney grew up (the son of Gov. George Romney), is the next primary, on Jan. 15. But McCain is popular in Michigan, where he defeated Bush in 2000. Another loss for Romney probably ends his candidacy.

South Carolina comes after that on Jan. 19, with Huckabee running in his first Southern primary.

Video of Mike Huckabee Speaking to Supporters in New Hampshire - 1/8/08

Here is video of Mike Huckabee speaking to New Hampshire supporters after taking third in the primary there, January 8, 2008:

A Big Night for Mike Huckabee in New Hampshire

John Ellis has written an amazing piece for Real Clear Politics in which he argues that Mike Huckabee was a huge winner tonight in New Hampshire:

Iowa was grand for former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, but New Hampshire was a bonanza. He cast his bread upon the waters there and though he finished a distant third, it was returned manifold. The one thing that Huckabee cannot afford, at this stage of the race, is head-to-head defeat. He needs at least two "strong" candidates in the field while he puts together the pieces of his Republican proletariat coalition.

What New Hampshire delivered last night was a revitalized Sen. John McCain, which makes Michigan a three-way race, which makes Gov. Huckabee's campaign there viable. If ever there was an electorate that is ripe for Gov. Huckabee's mix of economic populism and compassionate Christianity, it's down-trodden Michigan Republican primary voters. McCain won there in 2000 with strong support from Independents and he will direct all of his efforts at getting those independents to double down, one last time. Romney will throw everything he has at Michigan, to avoid elimination. Given a McCain surge and a Romney splurge, it's not hard to imagine a three-way split, with Huckabee doing surprisingly well in the collar counties around Detroit and drawing from the well of his base in the western and northwestern counties. Who knows, he might even win Michigan, which would set up South Carolina for a kill.

With McCain now anointed by clueless Washington scribes as the putative front-runner, the Arizona Senator must compete in South Carolina, because he will be expected to and because he has some unfinished business there from the 2000 campaign. Former Senator Fred Thompson has announced that he too will make a stand in South Carolina, although this may be moot by week's end. Romney will compete there, at least with negative television commercials, if only to cut McCain. The net result of all of that will likely be a convincing Huckabee victory, which should solidify Huckabee's lock on the Southern primary states and enable his campaign to poach in border states, in the Midwest and in the Rocky Mountain States.

A strong Huckabee showing in Michigan and a convincing win in South Carolina would set up a showdown with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani in Florida, one that Huckabee could afford to lose. Indeed, he might even want to lose it, if only to fatten Giuliani up for his eventual slaughter on the altar of social conservatism. Again, the longer Huckabee faces two "not Huckabee" candidates, all of whom are alien or anathema to the GOP's core Sunbelt/Christian constituencies, the more likely it is he will eventually emerge victorious in the final showdown, wherever that might occur.

And if the results in the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary were not bonanza enough, Huckabee got the added boost of Senator Clinton's resurrection from the dead. What better to inflame the passions of Huckabee's more rabid partisans than the renewed prospect of Holy War against the hated Hillary. And what better way could there be to diminish the impact of McCain's revival than a bigger story burying his news.

In case you hadn't noticed, click your mouse around this website until you get to National GOP Presidential Polls. Guess who's tied for the lead or leading now in virtually every national poll. He may have finished third in New Hampshire, but he took a large step forward tonight. If he keeps it up, and things keep breaking his way, there will be no one left to stop him.

Mike Huckabee Message to Supporters from New Hampshire

Here is what Mike Huckabee wrote to supporters tonight after coming in third in New Hampshire:

I just finished speaking to our supporters in new Hampshire before heading off to South Carolina. We are running a strong third place finish as I write, our rivals had a long history in New Hampshire, deeper organizations and millions of dollars of advertising in the state. Just weeks ago we were polling 5th and 6th in the state. Tonight we finished strong and came in third. A special thanks to the people of New Hampshire! Thank you to the volunteers on the ground and our dedicated campaign staff that made this happen.

Our ideas are resonating: our strong support for life and marriage, securing our borders, preventative health care, energy independence and massive tax reform all helped propel us here.

Lets keep it going. Important primaries in Michigan, South Carolina and Florida are ahead of us and we must be prepared.

Mike Huckabee to Finish Third in New Hampshire

Mike Huckabee is going to finish a very respectable third in New Hampshire, it appears, ahead of Rudy Giuliani. Huckabee has 11% of the vote with 80% of the precincts reporting, which would give him at least one delegate. This is a strong performance for Mike, as he heads to Michigan and South Carolina.

Hukcabee Looks For Added Positive Exposure in New Hampshire

Here is an MSNBC news video that centers on Mike Huckabee's strategy to gain positive exposure in New Hampshire, with an eye beyond New Hampshire:

Huckabee Nows Leads GOP Race Nationally

Mike Huckabee has now taken first place for the GOP Nomination in the prestigious Real Clear Politics Average of Polls! He has unseated Rudy Giuliani and now leads:

20.7% Mike Huckabee
20.0% John McCain
19.0% Rudy Giuliani
12.0% Mitt Romney
10.7% Fred Thompson

Why Mike Huckabee is the Strongest Candidate for the GOP

Here is a great analysis by Bill Kristol in which he explains why Mike Huckabee just might be the GOP's most formidable candidate:

Thank you, Senator Obama. You’ve defeated Senator Clinton in Iowa. It looks as if you’re about to beat her in New Hampshire. There will be no Clinton Restoration. A nation turns its grateful eyes to you.

But gratitude for sparing us a third Clinton term only goes so far. Who, inquiring minds want to know, is going to spare us a first Obama term? After all, for all his ability and charm, Barack Obama is still a liberal Democrat. Some of us would much prefer a non-liberal and non-Democratic administration. We don’t want to increase the scope of the nanny state, we don’t want to undo the good done by the appointments of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, and we really don’t want to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory in Iraq.

For me, therefore, the most interesting moment in Saturday night’s Republican debate at St. Anselm College was when the candidates were asked what arguments they would make if they found themselves running against Obama in the general election.

The best answer came, not surprisingly, from the best Republican campaigner so far — Mike Huckabee. He began by calmly mentioning his and Obama’s contrasting views on issues from guns to life to same-sex marriage. This served to remind Republicans that these contrasts have been central to G.O.P. success over the last quarter-century, and to suggest that Huckabee could credibly and comfortably make the socially conservative case in an electorally advantageous way.

Huckabee went on to pay tribute to Obama for his ability “to touch at the core of something Americans want” in seeming to move beyond partisanship. And, he added, Senator Obama is “a likable person who has excited people about wanting to vote who have not voted in the past.” Huckabee was of course aware that in praising Obama he was recommending himself

I was watching the debate at the home of a savvy, moderately conservative New Hampshire Republican. It was at this moment that he turned to me and said: “You know, I’ve been a huge skeptic about Huckabee. I’m still not voting for him Tuesday. But I’ve got to say — I like him. And I wonder — could he be our strongest nominee?”

He could be. After the last two elections, featuring the well-born George Bush and Al Gore and John Kerry, Americans — even Republicans! — are ready for a likable regular guy. Huckabee seems to be that. He came up from modest origins. He served as governor of Arkansas for more than a decade. He fought a successful battle against being overweight. These may not be utterly compelling qualifications for the presidency. I’m certainly not ready to sign up.

Still, as the conservative writer Michael Medved put it, “For the work-hard-to-get-ahead strivers who represent the heart and soul of the G.O.P., there are obvious, powerful points of identification.” And they speak to younger voters who are not yet committed to the G.O.P. In Iowa, Huckabee did something like what Obama did on the Democratic side, albeit on a smaller scale. He drew new voters to the caucuses. And he defeated Mitt Romney by almost two to one, and John McCain by better than four to one, among voters under 45.

Now it’s true that many conservatives have serious doubts about Huckabee’s positions, especially on foreign policy, and his record, particularly on taxes. The conservative establishment is strikingly hostile to Huckabee — for both good and bad reasons. But voters seem to be enjoying making up their own minds this year. And Huckabee is a talented politician.

His campaigning in New Hampshire has been impressive. At a Friday night event at New England College in Henniker, he played bass with a local rock band, Mama Kicks. One secular New Hampshire Republican’s reaction: “Gee, he’s not some kind of crazy Christian. He’s an ordinary American.”

In general, here in New Hampshire he’s emphasized social issues far less than in Iowa (though he doesn’t waffle when asked about them). Instead he’s stressed conservative economic themes, seamlessly (if somewhat inconsistently) weaving together a pitch for limited government with a message that government needs to do more to address the concerns of the struggling middle class. This latter point seems to be resonating, as headlines in local papers announce an increase in the national unemployment rate amid speculation about a coming recession.

Some Democrats are licking their chops at the prospect of a Huckabee nomination. They shouldn’t be. For one thing, Michael Bloomberg would be tempted to run in the event of an Obama-Huckabee race — and he would most likely take votes primarily from Obama. But whatever Bloomberg does, the fact is that the Republican establishment spent 2007 underestimating Mike Huckabee. If Huckabee does win the nomination, it would be amusing if Democrats made the same mistake in 2008.

Mike Huckabee On CNN American Morning - 01/04/08

Here is a good interview of Mike Huckabee by CNN American Morning on the morning after Mike's big win in Iowa.

Iowa Victor Mike Huckabee on The Today Show - Video 1/4/08

Here is video of Mike Huckabee on The Today Show this morning:

The Inside Story on Huckabee's Iowa Victory

Byron York at National Review has written an outstanding piece giving the inside story behind Mike Huckabee's amazing win in Iowa:

Des Moines, Iowa — On the night before the Iowa caucuses, I dropped by Mike Huckabee’s campaign headquarters on Sixth Avenue in downtown Des Moines. Upstairs, in the phone-bank room, the scene was part political operation and part day care center; supporters who volunteered to make calls for Huckabee had brought their children, who were playing games while their parents worked the phone lists. In a cluttered side room, I sat down with Chip Saltsman, Huckabee’s campaign manager, and Robert Wickers, his media adviser, while four year-old James Yoest, the son of another Huckabee adviser, Charmaine Yoest, slept on a blanket spread across the floor.

Something was up. Saltsman and Wickers gave off a certain sense of serenity; they seemed to know that their man was doing very well. I would have suspected that they had some secret research showing that Huckabee would win the next day, but I knew the campaign didn’t have the money for such luxuries. So I listened as Saltsman gave what was essentially a play-by-play analysis of the Huckabee victory to come.

The campaign’s strategy was shaped by two things, Saltsman said. First was Huckabee’s talent as a communicator, and second was the fact that the campaign was always nearly broke. Put those two together, and you had a campaign constantly searching for free media exposure. “We’ve been criticized sometimes for — after a big event, we went straight to Washington to do media, or we went straight to New York to do media,” Saltsman said. “That was because a lot of those shows wouldn’t have us on unless we did that.”

“We didn’t have any money,” Wickers added.

“Exactly,” Saltsman said. “But we knew that was a big part of the process for us.”

So Huckabee went from show to show, and he came up with other attention-getting moves like devoting his first commercial to the now-famous “Chuck Norris” ad. “Any other campaign, that ad never gets shown,” Saltsman told me, “because you have a conference room full of consultants saying you can’t do it.” At the moment Saltsman was saying that in Des Moines, Huckabee himself was in California, sitting down to talk on The Tonight Show — perhaps the ultimate in free media. A number of commentators thought that was a blunder; Saltsman checked the number of Iowa homes tuned into the show on any given evening and thought it was a pretty good idea.

That disconnect between the conventional wisdom and Huckabee’s strategy worked time and again in the campaign’s favor. The most notable occasion was last week’s news conference in which Huckabee announced that he had created a television ad attacking Mitt Romney but had decided not air it. The national press corps laughed derisively. But Saltsman and Wickers believed that Iowans viewed it differently. What the press saw as too-clever-by-half opportunism, the voters saw as Huckabee saying, “I’ve been hit by lots of negative ads. There’s a temptation to hit back. But you know, I’m just not going to do it. It wouldn’t be right.” Huckabee came out fine.

As they put together a bare-bones, unconventional campaign, foraging on the free-media environment, the Huckabee team kept a close eye on Romney’s organization. They studied publicly available polling, which showed Huckabee moving upward, but they also paid a lot of attention to what Wickers called the Romney campaign’s “body language.” Simply put, in the final days of the race, Team Romney wasn’t acting like a winner. “If you have what you’re promoting as the best ground operation and organization in the state, that means the campaign manager is going to have on his laptop an Excel spreadsheet that identifies every hard-core Romney supporter in every county,” Wickers explained in a conversation after the caucuses. “That says, ‘We’ve got this campaign won. We’re done.’“ But the vibe coming out of the Romney campaign was different. “When Governor Romney was talking about lowering expectations, when he started to say that they were going to come back and win Iowa in November, I knew right there, that’s not a candidate who has information and data that shows he’s going to win,” Wickers told me. And indeed, Romney didn’t.

On the day of the caucuses, I checked Romney’s schedule and noticed that he was set to appear at a Kum & Go — a popular convenience store — in West Des Moines. The convenience store backdrop seemed a bit Huckabee-esque, until I arrived to discover that the event was being held not at a Kum & Go, but at the corporate headquarters of Kum & Go, a company called Krause-Gentle, which also owns a variety of other businesses. The CEO of Krause-Gentle is a Romney fan and invited him to speak there.

Before the event — one in which Romney’s appearance was jarringly preceded by a music system playing Garth Brooks drinking songs — Eric Fehrnstrom, a spokesman who had traveled with Romney all around Iowa, explained his view of the Huckabee campaign. “We’re going up against a loose confederation of fair taxers, and homeschoolers, and Bible study members, and so this will be a test to see who can generate the most bodies on caucus day,” Fehrnstrom said.

“Not that there’s anything wrong with any of those groups?” I interrupted.

“Not that there’s anything wrong, but that’s just a fact,” Fehrnstrom continued. “That’s just where he has found his support. I have a theory about why Mike Huckabee holds public events in Iowa like getting a haircut or going jogging, or actually leaving Iowa and going to California to appear on the Jay Leno show. It’s because he doesn’t have the infrastructure to plan events for him. And when he does do events in Iowa, he goes to the Pizza Ranch, where you have a built-in crowd, so you don’t have to make calls to turn people out. We’re very proud of the organization we have built in Iowa.”

Fehrnstrom, like the rest of Romney’s team, was unfailingly professional. But his analysis pointed to a blind spot in the Romney campaign, a blind spot most likely shared by the candidate himself. For all his money, and all his energy, and all his organizational skills, Romney could not put to rest the doubts many Iowa Republicans felt about his genuineness, or lack of genuineness. As they paid more attention to politics in the days leading up to the caucuses, some of those voters came to believe that Huckabee had more of that indefinable something that they want in a candidate. In the end, the race wasn’t about infrastructure at all — something Romney never figured out but Huckabee knew all along.

Mike Huckabee Victory Speech in Iowa

Here is Mike Huckabee's victory speech last night in Iowa. This speech demostrates why Mike is an extremely formidable candidate. He gives a truly outstanding speech, and demonstrates his ability to inspire and connect with average people in a way no GOP politician has really done since -- Ronald Reagan.

It's Mike in Iowa!

Mike Huckabee has swept to victory in Iowa tonight, despite the efforts of Mitt Romney and the media to destroy his campaign. He won because he has a message of hope and change. He won because people believe Mike when he speaks to them. And that is going to continue beyond Iowa!

New Video Shows Bhutto's Final Moments

Here is new video released in Pakistan today of the final moments of Benazir Bhutto's life. It shows her standing up in a vehicle just ahead of the fateful moments that took her life:

Huckabee and Norris Discuss How the Fair Tax Helps America - Video

Here is video of Mike Huckabee and Chuck Norris discussing how the Fair Tax would help America:

To Set the Record Straight: Mike Huckabee on Faith and Politics

Continuing our "To Set the Record Straight" Series, here is Mike Huckabee on the issue of "Faith and Politics":

Faith and Politics

• The First Amendment requires that expressions of faith be neither prohibited
  nor preferred.
• My faith is my life - it defines me. I don't separate my faith from my
  personal and professional lives.
• Real faith makes us more humble and mindful, not of the faults of others,
  but of our own. It makes us less judgmental, as we see others with the same
  frailties we have.
  Faith gives us strength in the face of injustice and
  motivates us to do our best for "the least of us."
• Our nation was birthed in a spirit of faith - not a prescriptive faith
  telling us how or whether to believe, but acknowledging a providence that
  pervades our world.

The First Amendment requires that expressions of faith be neither prohibited nor preferred. We should not banish religion from the public square, but should guarantee access to all voices and views. We should share and debate our faith, but never seek to impose it. When discussing faith and politics, we should honor the "candid" in candidate - I have much more respect for an honest atheist than a disingenuous believer.

My faith is my life - it defines me. My faith doesn't influence my decisions, it drives them. For example, when it comes to the environment, I believe in being a good
steward of the earth. I don't separate my faith from my personal and
professional lives.

Real faith makes us humble and mindful, not of the faults of others, but of our own. It makes us less judgmental, as we see others with the same frailties we have. Faith gives us strength in the face of injustice and motivates us to do our best for "the least of us."

Our nation was birthed in a spirit of faith - not a prescriptive one telling us
whether to believe, but one acknowledging that a providence pervades our world.

To Set the Record Straight: Mike Huckabee's Immigration Plan

As voting time draws near in Iowa, there are a lot of charges flying around about all the candidates, including Mike Huckabee. Some charge Huckabee is not truly conservative on all the issues. I think it is important to take a look at what Mike Huckabee has actually said he will do as President of the United States. In a series of posts, beginning with this one, we will look at Huckabee on the issues. I will post what he has set forth as his stance on the key issues of the day. We begin with Immigration. You decide for yourself if you think this plan is conservative:

The Secure America Plan
A 9-Point Strategy for Immigration Enforcement and Border Security

Overview: Implement a broad-based strategy that commits the resources of the federal government to the enforcement of our immigration laws and results in the attrition of the illegal immigrant population.

1. Build the Fence

* Ensure that an interlocking surveillance camera system is installed along the border by July 1, 2010.
* Ensure that the border fence construction is completed by July 1, 2010.

2. Increase Border Patrol

* Increase the number of border patrol agents.
* Fully support all law enforcement personnel tasked with enforcing immigration law.

3. Prevent Amnesty

* Policies that promote or tolerate amnesty will be rejected.
* Propose to provide all illegal immigrants a 120-day window to register with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services and leave the country. Those who register and return to their home country will face no penalty if they later apply to immigrate or visit; those who do not return home will be, when caught, barred from future reentry for a period of 10 years.
* This is not a "touchback" provision. Those who leave this country and apply to return from their home country would go to the back of the line.

4. Enforce the Law on Employers

* Employment is the chief draw for most illegal immigrants and denying them jobs is the centerpiece of an attrition strategy.
* Impose steep fines and penalties on employers that violate the law.
* Institute a universal, mandatory citizenship verification system as part of the normal hiring process.
* Prevent the IRS and the Social Security Administration from accepting fraudulent Social Security numbers or numbers that don't match the employees' names.*


5. Establish an Economic Border

* Move toward passage of the FairTax.
* The FairTax provides an extra layer of security by creating an economic disincentive to immigrate to the U.S. illegally.



6. Empower Local Authorities

* Promote better cooperation on enforcement by supporting legislative measures such as the CLEAR Act, which aims to systematize the relationship between local law and federal immigration officials.
* Encourage immigration-law training for police. Local authorities must be provided the tools, training, and funding they need so local police can turn illegal immigrants over to the federal authorities.

7. Ensure Document Security

* End exemptions for Mexicans and Canadians to the US-VISIT program, which tracks the arrival and departure of foreign visitors. Since these countries account for the vast majority of foreigners coming here (85 percent), such a policy clearly violates Congress' intent in mandating this check-in/check-out system.
* Reject Mexico's "matricula consular" card, which functions as an illegal-immigrant identification card.

8. Discourage Dual Citizenship

* Inform foreign governments when their former citizens become naturalized U.S. citizens.
* Impose civil and/or criminal penalties on American citizens who illegitimately use their dual status (e.g., using a foreign passport, voting in elections in both a foreign country and the U.S.).

9. Modernize the Process of Legal Immigration

* Eliminate the visa lottery system and the admission category for adult brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens.
* Increase visas for highly-skilled and highly-educated applicants.
* Expedite processing for those who serve honorably in the U.S. Armed Forces.
* Improve our immigration process so that those patiently and responsibly seeking to come here legally will not have to wait decades to share in the American dream. Governor Huckabee has always been grateful to live in a country that people are trying to break into, rather than break out of.

*This policy will be drafted to comply with the final federal court decisions on this issue.

Note: This plan is partially modeled on a proposal by Mark Krikorian, Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies. ("Re: Immigration: Ten Points for a Successful Presidential Candidate," National Review, May 23, 2005.)

Huckabee Speaks to Crowd of 1,400 in Des Moines

Mike Huckabee spoke to an overflow crowd of more than 1,400 people yesterday in West Des Moines, Iowa. Huckabee has been drawing great crowds wherever he goes in these closing days before the Iowa Caucuses. This can be contrasted to the reported crowds of 50-100 Fred Thompson has been drawing on his bus tour across Iowa. Here is video of Huckabee's appearance in West Des Moines:

Huckabee Makes Florida Panhandle Stop - 12/27/07

Mike Huckabee made a quick stop in the Florida Panhandle before heading back to Iowa. Here is a report on his visit there:

With just days left until the lead-off caucus and primary, presidential candidate Mike Huckabee made an unscheduled stop in Destin on his way from Orlando to Iowa.

In a little over a month Huckabee has surged ahead in the polls, now leading in a number of states including Florida.

"I think one of the reasons our campaign has taken off is people see I've had more executive experience actually running a government than anybody running for president, Democrat or Republican. And I know that translates into fixing what's wrong rather than just complaining about it," said Mike Huckabee, GOP Presidential Candidate.

The 44th governor of Arkansas and his wife, Janet, were greeted by old friends and supporters at the Destin airport. It was a small crowd with large hopes for the presidential contender.

"He's the 44th governor of Arkansas and I honestly believe he'll be the 44th president," said David Meckley, Huckabee Supporter.

"He's just such a godly man and I think he would be a wonderful president. This is going to be my first year of voting and I couldn't ask for a better man to be running for president," said Bethany Stanley, Huckabee Supporter.

With the Florida primary right around the corner on January 29, Huckabee says he's counting on the Panhandle for support.

"The Panhandle has been sort of the conservative end of Florida for forever. And we feel like if we can do well in the Panhandle we'll carry Florida," said Huckabee.

But first Huckabee wants to make a good showing in the first two races. According to the latest polls, he's well on his way in Iowa, with more work to do in New Hampshire.

Iowans cast the first votes on January 3. The lead-off primary takes place on January 8 in New Hampshire.

Big Trouble for Fred Thompson

It appears Fred Thompson is having huge trouble raising money, so much so that he is unable to run ads in Iowa in the runup to the Iowa Caucuses! This is amazing for a candidate thought to be one of the "top-tier" just a few short weeks ago. Here is a post from over at PoliPundit.com detailing the trouble:

Just when you thought Fred Thompson was turning things around with 9 days to Iowa, the campaign took a few steps back by announcing they are broke:, not broke, just not enough money to air any TV in the last 9 days before the first caucus in Iowa:

When I got a generic fundraising e-mail “from” Fred Thompson campaign manager Bill Lacy last night offering “a quick update” on the effort to get “on the air statewide in Iowa,” I didn’t take it literally.

I should have.

Fred has gone dark in Iowa.

With not enough cash to buy ads, he’s doing all the free media he can on his bus tour. But it’s a remarkable indicator of just how topsy-turvy the GOP race has been that the man once viewed as the party’s savior cannot even afford to buy TV time in the final days before Iowa.

This couldn’t have happened at a worst time for the campaign that continues to experience growing pains and show signs that it’s not quite ready for primetime.

We can argue all we want about whether the “fire in the belly” is there or not, or whether missing the Delaware and DC ballot are meaningless or signs of a bigger problem. We can talk about his low-key Southern demeanor and how that will come off to “big City folk", but you can’t sweep under the rug the fact that a major top-tier candidate can’t raise money and can’t run TV ads the last week before the first and all important Iowa Caucus.