Politics chat with James Pindell
James Pindell, political reporter and author of The Primary Source, swung by Boston.com on Tuesday to chat with readers about Mitt Romney's strong support in Iowa, and how the war in Iraq will affect voters in 2008.
James_Pindell: Welcome to our weekly politics chat. I am in Rochester, New Hampshire at a Mitt Romney event. I am sorry the traffic kept me from starting on time. I hope we can have a great discussion.
snoop_dawg: Hi, the Globe today said Romney has opened up a big lead in Iowa, but that it's tenuous because he's been spamming the state with ads. Can he hold the lead?
James_Pindell: You mention the front page story that myself and Scott Helman wrote about Romney's newfound status as a front-runner in Iowa, a critical early voting state.
James_Pindell: Read it here.
James_Pindell: During my trip to back to Iowa last week (I helped cover the 2000 Iowa Caucuses for the Des Moines Register) it became obvious that Romney was ahead in Iowa for two reasons.
James_Pindell: 1. Romney's opponents like Giuliani and McCain face serious challenges there and lower the bar for Romney.
James_Pindell: 2. Romney is winning Iowa the Iowa way. He has spent a lot of time and money there.
James_Pindell: For directly answer your question, I do think it is sustainable for the summer, but the true test will be the Ames Straw Poll on Aug. 11
homer_simpson: Can anybody beat hillary? She's got the name cache, the money, and she's not a Republican.
James_Pindell: Senator Clinton is clearly better positioned to win the primary than she is the general. I was just with her a few hours ago in Manchester and her organization here really reminds you of how powerful she really is. At the same time the last three months have shown that Senator Clinton is not the inevitable nominee and this is going to be a long campaign.
James_Pindell: would Massachusetts vote for Romney for president over a Democrat? We usually vote Democrat, but after Romney's successful tenure as governor, would the state swing GOP?
James_Pindell: This is an interesting question. After all, the state did vote for him once. But given his shift to more conservative positions and his low approval rating as he left office as governor I think it is unlikely he will win the state over a Democrat should he be the Republican nominee.
Lester: Is there a possibility someone beside the 3 front runners in each party can mae a serious bid for nomination?
James_Pindell: Yes. We are seeing signs of potential from a few in the bottom tiers of both parties -- like New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. Also there are some who may still enter the race like Newt Gingrich, Fred Thompson, and Al Gore.
James_Pindell: Keep in mind that four years ago Howard Dean was just beginning to take off. There is still time.
cait: Why is it that Obama is critiqued as "too inexperienced" as a one term Senator, but we're not hearing the same criticism of Romney, a barely 1 term governor?
James_Pindell: That is a fascinating question. I must say that we do hear a lot from Senator John McCain about his experience, but nothing directly questioning Romney on the issue.
James_Pindell: Here is the truth: The campaigns, media, and even late night comedians all use what Al Gore calls a candidate's "meta-narrative" in a lot that they do. So Barack Obama's "meta-narrative" is that he is a rock star, but too inexperienced. For Hillary Clinton, she is experience and has stature, but is cold and calculating. For John McCain he is a maverick with a great history of service, but very old and possibly yesterday's news. You get the point. So with Mitt Romney the negative "meta-narrative" has been that he is a flip-flopper. These meta-narratives change all the time, but right now the inexperience quotes are on Obama not Romney. Hopefully that provided a little insight.
snithead: With the war in Iraq straining the military, causing some soldiers to be brought back for repeat tours of duty, why isn't anyone asking the candidates about the likelihood of bringing back the draft?
James_Pindell: My daily reporting on the campaign trail has found the draft to be an issue asked often at events by regular people, but no candidate has incorporated into their stump speech. Clearly this isn't a surprise among Republican candidates who downplay the specifics of the war, but I can see more Democrats talking about this issue as the campaign progresses. In 2004, Wesley Clark talked about it a lot.
cait: Thanks James, that makes a lot of sense. Hopefully as the election gets closer, then we can cart out the inexperience meta-narrative for Romney. And I must disagree with an earlier participant about Romney's success as Governor...
James_Pindell: I am sure that John McCain will agree with you.
James_Pindell: I tried to stay a bit longer since I got a late start, but unfortunately I need to sign off. I hope we can do this again soon. I really enjoyed it.
