Eyes on the Prize

Tonight, all eyes are on our neighbors to the south, those crazy Iowans. As they participate in the the Iowa caucuses, about 300,000 of the approximately 2 million eligible voters in the state will have an important hand in the decision of who the rest of us will eventually get to pick between for the president. Nick has spent the last several days watching the polls and telling those Iowans (via that handy two-way communication vehicle, the television set) that if they haven't made up their mind on who they are going to support by now, then they must have some of their famous corn between their ears instead of a brain. It's hard not to be jealous of all of the face time, as we sit here due north, nary a candidate in sight, and our primary still a month away. Today on MPR (Minnesota Public Radio) I heard that one Iowan woman had been discussing hot flashes with Hillary, sSounds like an advice column, "Hot Flashes with Hillary"), a topic of critical importance when selecting the next president.

It's an interesting state of affairs when my (formerly?) Republican uncle and I are supporting the same candidate in the primaries. I'm anxious to move onto the next president, after experiencing "W" for 7 of my 14 adult years. Nick is equipped for the event with his new calendar, the day by day "Out of Office Countdown," a Christmas present courtesy of his son. Each day has an "enlightening" Bush quote, January 1st's being, "You can fool some of the people all the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on." Unfortunately, Nick will not become a citizen in time to vote in the 2008 presidential election, but that does not keep him from sharing his (many) opinions on the subject. Two political science majors under the same roof makes for some interesting conversation.

It seems like both yesterday and a decade ago when Howard Dean let out his (in)famous scream in the last presidential go-round. Weird.

Results are coming in...stay tuned.