The Hollywood Liberal

Rick Santorum’s path to victory

Rick Santorum is surging in Iowa, gaining notoriety and drawing the attacks of his opponents.

But can he win?

We here at The Fix remain skeptical. But if there is a path to victory, here’s what it looks like:

The CNN/Opinion Research poll released this week showed Santorum moving into third place in Iowa at 16 percent. But it also included some very interesting numbers when it comes to Christian voters. To wit: frontrunners Mitt Romney and Ron Paul combined for 60 percent of the vote among those who do not describe themselves as “born-again” Christians, but just 34 percent of those who do describe themselves as born-again.

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Michele Bachmann’s campaign flameout

DES MOINES — The rise and fall of Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.) may well stand as an allegory of the most turbulent GOP presidential primary in memory, one whose latest turn has been bitter and bizarre.

With just days to go before the Iowa caucuses, where a poor finish would almost certainly mean the end of Bachmann’s presidential hopes, the candidate who only months ago led the field here is being all but counted out.

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Romney prepares aggressive Iowa finish

AMES, Iowa — Mitt Romney unveiled plans Thursday for an aggressive finishing sprint in Iowa designed to lock down a victory in Tuesday’s caucuses that would leave his rivals scrambling to catch up.

Romney is far from a clear favorite in Iowa: Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) continues to show strength in the polls and is banking on a well-regarded organization, and former senator Rick Santorum (Pa.) is on the rise. But no campaign can match Romney’s for the breadth and depth of its infrastructure, and for the first time the weapons he can deploy are all on display.

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Covering the Iowa Caucuses with Instagram | #2012Unfiltered

Our campaign team has landed in Iowa with iPhones in hand to capture the scenes leading up to the caucuses for #2012Unfiltered.

From Iowa hotels and chocolate factories to dramatic last-minute defections, we’re chronicling as many behind-the-scenes caucus moments as we can for our Iowa gallery.

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The New Wave of US Voter Suppression
Amy Goodman, The Guardian
All eyes are on Iowa this week, as the hodgepodge field of Republican contenders gallivants across that farm state seeking a win, or at least “momentum,” in the campaign for the party's presidential nomination. But behind the scenes, a battle is being waged by Republicans – not against each other, but against American voters. Across the country, state legislatures and governors are pushing laws that seek to restrict access to the voting booth, laws that will disproportionately harm people of color, low-income people, and young and elderly voters. 

Voters Want Growth, Not Redistribution
Michael Barone, DC Examiner
“A 2008 election widely regarded as heralding a shift toward the more government-friendly public sentiment of the New Deal and Great Society eras seems to have yielded just the reverse.”So writes William Galston, Brookings Institution scholar and deputy domestic adviser in the Clinton White House, in the New Republic. Galston, one of the smartest political and policy analysts around, has strong evidence for this conclusion.He cites a recent Gallup poll showing that while 82 percent of Americans think it's extremely or very important to “grow and expand the economy”…

What Moves Republican Crowds in Iowa
Michael Shear, New York Times
DES MOINES — The Republican candidates for president are doing a lot of talking in the last week before voting begins.But spending a day observing how the crowds react to the candidates can be just as instructive.On Tuesday, Rick Perry held four events, starting in Council Bluffs and ending up in Osceola, about an hour south of Des Moines. Mr. Perry talked about being an outsider, taking the fight to President Obama and making the Congress a part-time legislature.

Foreign Policy Could Be Sleeper Issue of 2012
Philip Klein, DC Examiner
Foreign policy issues dominated the 2008 presidential primary season, but by the time the general election rolled around, the focus had shifted to the economy. Could the reverse be true in 2012?During the last presidential cycle, the Iraq War played a major role in the nominations of Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain. On the Democratic side, the fact that the inexperienced Obama had opposed the invasion from the beginning gave him the edge over the heavily favored Hillary Clinton, who as a senator had voted to give President Bush the authority to go to war.