In all my honesty I haven’t a real clue if the Iowa Straw Poll does now or ever has meant much for the Republican party. In 1999 George W. Bush was able to turn it into an act of providence, in 2007 it seems like an act of desperation.

One doesn’t need a straw poll to show us that those who have money can use it to grab people. This is essentially what Mitt Romney has done shelling out an enormous amount for a win. We don’t need a straw poll to tell us that Tommy Thompson, Ron Paul & Tom Tancredo haven’t a shot of winning a general election.

I am glad for Mike Huckabee that he has won second place but in short it isn’t very significant. Someone had to be second and with John McCain, Rudy Giuliani & Fred Thompson paying no mind to the event it would have been any one of those candidates whom national America doesn’t know.

The one thing we might be able to glean from this year is in the low turnout. Republicans seem anything but excited about these candidates or the upcoming election. Was it just that the big guns were not wooing the crowds or is there truly something in the air keeping people away from the Republican party, even when a fair is involved?

I haven’t the answer but I think the numbers are interesting. 23,000+ in 1999 & only 14,000+ in 2007. That isn’t a good sign for the party, especially as the Iowa caucus seems ready to be held much earlier this year than in the last election.

In short it was something to fill a Saturday devoid of news, not much of an indicator of where we stand.