As Iowa Caucuses...

Happy New Year and hope you’re ready for 366 days of presidential campaign overload. First up: The people who don’t understand how the Iowa caucus works. I’d like to see a poll of how many people in Iowa don’t understand it. Warren Buffet said if you don’t understand what a company does, don’t buy its stock. How many people blogging and bloviating about the Iowa caucus understand it?

I don’t know, but I’m heartened by the latest polls that show integrity may be making a comeback. Obama appears to be the Democratic frontrunner, and also appears to be ahead in New Hampshire, whose primary is a much easier process to comprehend. Should Clinton lose, watch for Bill to be permanently attached to her side for the next week in a desperate attempt to prop her up. It has been fascinating and entertaining to watch this terrible candidacy lurch from bad to worse. Whether it’s been race-baiting, smearing Obama as a Muslim, Bill falsely saying he never approved of the Iraq War and Hillary campaigning with her mother and daughter in a dire attempt to combat her huge negative ratings with women, Democrats will be doing their party a huge favor if she fails.

Future campaign managers should study Hillary and the equally vapid and virulent Mitt Romney as future textbook examples in how not to run. Much has been written about the Boston Herald’s, Concord Monitor’s and the New Hampshire Union-Leader’s anti-endorsement of Romney. These are three conservative papers in blue state country. All three know Romney very well from his time in Massachusetts. Their knowledge and experience speak volumes. To paraphrase myself, Republicans will be doing their party a huge favor if he fails.

Finally, read this fascinating editorial on John Edwards from an editor at Boomer Market Advisor, a financial publication aimed at financial advisors and planners.

The populist rhetoric of John Edwards kills me. "The gap between rich and poor is widening at a frightening pace," he trumpets. "We must do more to ensure income equality." Never mind that he lives in a 25,000 square foot house, gets $90,000 to give a speech about poverty and is an associate at hedge fund Fortis Investments (advocates for the poor peg hedge funds as a major contributor to wealth disparity)...I find it ironic that he calls for greater retirement saving while at the same time doing all he can to ensure more regulation and lower returns within retirement accounts. His proposal reads like a textbook case for class action tort lawyers. Knowing Edwards, what else could we expect?

Obviously the editor is biased toward his audience, but these are points worth mentioning. Also, guess who have been Edwards’ biggest supporters?

More Info: Here’s how the Iowa caucus works. I’ve seen legal contracts that are easier to understand.