IA: Des Moines Register: Romney and Bachmann at the top

[Landslide Lyndon]

lol Pawlenty.

Pawlenty and Hunstman might be the biggest paper tigers since Rudy Giuliani.

Go Michelle!

[Landslide Lyndon]

lol Pawlenty.

Pawlenty and Hunstman might be the biggest paper tigers since Rudy Giuliani.

Go Michelle!

     Giuliani had good poll numbers for a long time. Pawlenty & Hunstman were random non-starters propped up by prognosticators on this forum because they were non-offensive & non-Romney. Slight difference.

It's not just people on this forum. Beltway journalists have been relentlessly telling us a year now what a great campaign Pawlenty runs and what an awesome candidate Hunstman is.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Great, just what I expected.

I hope Bachmann doesn't peak to early.

I'm not an expert but I said from the beginning that Bachmann should be considered the favorite in Iowa. She is a perfect fit for the state's Republicans, can raise lots of money, and has the home state effect to boot.
Her numbers aren't a flavor of the month thing like Trump's or Cain's.

[Landslide Lyndon]

For comparison, here's the May 2007 Des Moines Register poll:

30% Romney
18% McCain
17% Giuliani
  7% Thompson
  5% Brownback
  4% Huckabee
  4% Tancredo
  1% Cox
  1% Gilmore
  1% Hunter
12% Undecided

Was that Fred Thompson or Tommy Thompson?

Fred Thompson hadn't entered the fray in May 2007.

[Landslide Lyndon]

Comparing the 2007 with the current poll numbers, I think there is still plenty of time and room to improve for serious candidates like Pawlenty or Huntsman who are now polling in the single digits - Huckabee has shown that it's possible. A candidate like Cain, however, has probably reached his peak. He seems to have been losing ground in the polls recently.

Hunstman has already declared that he'll skip Iowa, so the whole conversation is moot.

Pawlenty has nowhere near the charisma and charm of Huckabee, nor the natural constituency to strongly support him.