2011 Ames Straw Poll and Debate

Today is the Ames Straw Poll in Ames, Iowa, and the crème de la crème will be there. We had a small glimpse of it at the debate held Thursday and I thought that Newt Gingrich won it, with Herman Cain coming in second. My reasoning as to why Newt is based on how he set the tone of the questions and comments flowing his way when he went after Chris Wallace when he told Wallace to not ask “Gotcha!” questions and then how he blasted the SuperCommittee that had been formed to try to fix the economy. Herman Cain came in second in my mind even though the moderators had largely ignored him as far as the questions go. however, he delivered one of the best comments when speaking about immigration when he said that America's got to learn to take a joke when asked about his comments in regards to protecting the border with a 20-foot long fence. Michele Bachmann came in third with her two-pronged sparring with Tim Pawlenty (her fellow Minnesotan) and then to Byron York in regards  to a remark Bachmann made in a prior interview about being submissive. Rick Santorum came in 4th in my mind on many statements made but more importantly in his mini-battle with Ron Paul on gay marriage and also on Iran. I thought Ron Paul stumbled on both and Rick Santorum trounced him. Speaking of Ron Paul I think he came in 8th in the debate, and Herman Cain, who was positioned between Paul and Santorum on the staged, shone there when he just stood back and just let them have at it.

 

Here is my official Debate finishing order:

 

1. Newt Gingrich

2. Herman Cain

3. Michele Bachmann

4. Rick Santorum

5. Mitt Romney

6. Jon Huntsman

7. Tim Pawlenty

8. Ron Paul

 

 

And now here are my prediction of the Ames Straw Poll results:

1. Michele Bachmann

2. Herman Cain

3. Mitt Romney

4. Newt Gingrich

5. Rick Santorum

6. Ron Paul

7. Tim Pawlenty

8. Thaddeus McCotter

9. Jon Huntsman

 

I will be blogging during the speeches of the Straw Poll as well as give my own reaction to the final results of the Straw Poll ballot. If you want to watch it, you can go to http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN/ or http://www.ustream.tv/iowastrawpoll and watch it live. The program begins at 1 PM Eastern, 12 PM Central, so do not miss it!

MY DREAM CONSERVATIVE TEAM

A few times on Facebook and also on Twitter, I have seen a few dream tickets for President and Vice President, and even posted my own ticket. However, this time I am going to go a little further and also post my Speaker of the House and Senate Majority Leader as well. Granted it might be wishful thinking but One never knows.

 

PRESIDENT: Out of all of the presidential candidates out there now, only one has my vote because he is not a politician but a problem solver with over 40 years of common sense business principles. He is a man who knows that Washington does not work and he aims to fix it. I am talking about Herman Cain. He is fond of saying that “nearly everyone in Washington DC has held public office before. How’s that working out for you?”

 

VICE PRESIDENT: For Vice President, I am thinking that someone who had military experience should be in the position. While it is true that Herman Cain does not have foreign policy experience, I think that could be offset by one who does on the ticket. The man I have in mind is Allen West. Currently a Congressman representing Florida’s 22nd District, he spent 21 years in the United States Army before retiring in 2004 as a Lieutenant Colonel.  His 21 years in the Army, including tours of Duty in Operation Desert Shield (later Operation Desert Storm) and Operation Iraqi Freedom, give him the Foreign Policy and military experience needed to give Herman Cain more freedom to work with the economy.

 

SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: I am seeing the Republicans taking the majority in the Senate and unseating Harry Reid in 2012. While the Democrats might select Harry Reid as Minority Leader, I am thinking that the Republicans might think out of the box and select Marco Rubio as Majority Leader. Granted, he had only become a Senator in 2010 so might not have the experience, but after watching a YouTube video in which he had talked about the problems with the debt ceiling on July 30 (when he spoke about how the Senate Democrats had proposed no budget for 822 days and also how he had stood up to John Kerry) had convinced me that he would be a perfect fit for the Senate Majority Leader.

 

SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: While I like John Boehner as Speaker of the House, I think that the battle over the debt ceiling had weakened him a little bit. With that in mind, the Republicans will maintain a majority in the House if not add to it, and in doing so another Congressman will rise up and challenge for the Speaker of the House. The man that I have in mind is Paul Ryan. My reason for that is because of how he has handled himself in the Budget Committee as Chairman and also on the Ways and Means Committee. Now while he is not a supporter of the Fair Tax (HR 25/S 13) he is on the Committee which has a say on whether the Fair Tax can be sent to the Full House or not.

 

There are many more positions which I might get to in another blog post, but I am sticking with the main 4 as I feel these 4 offices hold a large sway in the United States of America.