Iowa Endorsements and Strategery:

REPUBLICAN--HUCKABEE
DEMOCRAT--OBAMA

Yes, The ProConPundit is endorsing Mike Huckabee in Iowa over John McCain. How can this be? Have I flip-flopped, turned tale and run, and abandoned my principles. FAGET ABOUT IT. No way. The Iowa caucus is about strategy. Make no mistake. Iowa is important in presidential nominations. But not because it picks eventual winners. Presidents Reagan, Bush I and Clinton all lost Iowa. My goal is to elect McCain. In order to elect McCain, Romney has to get beat. Huckabee serves a greatly useful purpose in helping that happen and, by most accounts, will do so tomorrow by beating Romney in Iowa.

Huckabee has taken off and become impressive. He is a better communicator than was Ronald Reagan, has gone a long way with no money, and the ProConPundit genuinely admires his ability to deal deftly with criticisms, attacks and hurdles. That said, he is largely a media creation and has a frightening lack of knowledge about world affairs. He also has a lot of very fundamentalist, narrow, judgmental views not only about Mormons, but Catholics, gays, etc.

My GOP strategy is--Huckabee beats Romney in Iowa, McCain wins New Hampshire, then McCain will be well poised to beat Romney in South Carolina and Michigan, Huckabee will have nowhere to go after South Carolina. By the time we get to states that Rudy expects to win, it should be a two person race between McCain and Rudy.

On the Democratic side, again my Iowa endorsement is not for my most favored person. Joe Biden remains the best shot the Democrats have at electing the most experienced person they’ve got during perilous war times. He does not appear to stand a chance. In the absence of nominating the most experienced person, the ProConPundit endorses the Obama: Change Agent and Illinoisan bandwagon. It is essential for Hillary Clinton to get beat–badly and early. If Obama beats her and Edwards comes in second, my hope, she will be badly bruised but not out.
It would actually help McCain if Clinton won Iowa. That would signal, rightly or wrongly, her inevitable nomination. That would leave Independent voters in new Hampshire to negate a Dem ballot in favor of their old maverick warrior, John McCain. Although that scenario favors McCain, the ProConPundit favors, nonetheless, an Obama victory in Iowa. If Obama wins Iowa, New Hampshire independents will be energized by him and he will win New Hampshire. If that happens, he will win South Carolina. If that happens, he will have a more than likely shot at clinching the nod away from Clinton.

So, in Iowa–lets go Huckabee and Obama.