The Scoreboard On Iowa Caucus Eve (Eve)

On the Republican side:

Huckabee 29.3%, Romney 28.1%, McCain 11.3%, Thompson 10.9%, Giuliani 6.4%.

Romney's "attacks" on Huckaburger's less than sterling gubernatorial record, to say nothing of the latter's bumbling confirmation of them and so much more, appear to have had some impact at that.  Which, of course, puts Romney in a significantly enhanced position from that which he occupied previously, since if he can pull out Iowa as well as New Hampshire, not only will his original nomination strategy be succeeding, but he'll be the guy who saved the GOP from both the 21st Century Elmer Gantry and the sinister Darth Queeg.  Conservatives like me who weren't sold on the Mittster, and still aren't, will have the compensatory warm & fuzzies of having averted an even worse nominatory outcome, making Romney's regained frontrunnership easier, if still not particularly enjoyable, to swallow.

The Donk side looks like this:

Rodham 28.9%, Obama 26.4%, Edwards 25.7%

This is actually good news for Senator Clinton, since her campaign's much exaggerated "collapse" is being split evenly between her two biggest tomato can "rivals".  If the strength Opie has gained had gone instead to Obama, the Empress would be trailing, badly, and legitimately in trouble.  As it is, Opie's poopulist schtick, guaranteed to gain traction in a state famous for its indulgence of demagogues, is cutting Obama off at the knees just as he was climbing past Her Inevitability.  Net effect?  Obama and Edwards take each other out, allowing Hillary to eke out a win and keep her coronational bandwagon rolling along to New Hampshire.

Speaking of which, with a week to go....

GOP: Romney 29.7%, McCain 27.0%, Huckabee 13.3%, Giuliani 10.7%, Thompson 3.0%

Donks: Rodham 32.3%, Obama 27.0%, Edwards 18.3%

If the Mittster is bouncing back in Iowa, he's hanging on by his last fingernail in New Hampshire, and that's on the strength of the Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll, which is the oldest of the three in my current average.  In another week, given the current Granite state trend, ugh, I don't even want to think about it.  Hopefully a Romney slap down of the Huckster Thursday can carry over.  No wonder the Beast and False Prophet are teaming up (okay, that IS a bit too harsh....)

Of course, hopefully the scales will fall from voters' eyes in both, and every other, state, and the one Republican electable next November will sweep to victory.  Seriously, can you picture Fred Thompson getting juked out of his drawers like Romney has Huckabee the past few days?  Please.

On the Dark Side, if Senator Clinton gets by Iowa, she should have no problem rolling through New Hampshire and on to the nomination that's had her name engraved on it for the past thirty-plus years.

So this is what we Pachyderms have been reduced to: Hoping that a flip-flopper who has no shot against Hillary can save us from two RINOs who're even worse.

Save us from ourselves, Fred, save us from ourselves.

Please.

We're begging you.