Heh! "Iowans pick corn, New Hampshire picks Presidents" - Granite Grok

Heh! “Iowans pick corn, New Hampshire picks Presidents”

Heh! A Slap in the Face, Craig?  Really?  Iowans have THAT thin of a skin?

I have been fortunate to have been asked to be a part of Tony Katz’s "The Conversation" (here and here) the last couple of months to yak about the 2012 Republican Presidential Primary to represent NH’s viewpoint.  Joining me has been Craig Robinson, founder and Editor-in-chief of the The Iowan Republican, for the perspective of Iowans.

Well, it seems that Craig got a bit cranky (heh!) over the fact that Gov. Rick "Is he in or is he gonna be on the sideline?" Perry is announcing (maybe?) his intentions at the RedState Gathering on Saturday:

Texas Governor Rick Perry’s decision to announce his candidacy in South Carolina at the same time the Iowa Straw Poll is taking place in Ames is not only a slap in the face to Republican voters in Iowa, but it also is disrespectful to the Iowa GOP and the other candidates seeking the nomination.

The move makes it obvious that Governor Perry either doesn’t understand the Iowa caucuses or doesn’t respect the role that Iowa plays in the nominating process.  We shouldn’t be surprised.  The candidate he endorsed for president in 2008, Rudy Giuliani, never could figure out Iowa either.

The road map to the nomination for Perry is very simple.  If he wins Iowa and South Carolina, he’s probably the nominee.  His decision to announce his candidacy in a manner that attempts to pull some of the spotlight away from Ames and the Iowa caucuses will not sit well with Iowa activists.

I beg to differ (but with a smile and not a whine, for while we in NH are taciturn outside, we’re rather mischievous inside)!  The path to the nomination lies NOT lie with Iowa but with New Hampshire (but I readily admit that Iowa has great corn for Orville Redenbacher, though)  And frankly, if Gov. Perry wants to schmooze with Erick Erickson and the other RedStaters, and then head straight to NH well, we’re dandy with that. We are, after all, clearly comfortable with our role as The First in the Nation Primary State, where the people are as solid as the granite rock we stand on (as opposed to that Iowan corn that sways in even the gentlest breeze).  We know that the candidates have spent a LOT of time here and are only visiting you folks, Craig, for just the littlest time but then they’ll be right back here to spend weeks with us (and Mom loved me more too!)! 

Further, I’m rather doubtful that ANY of the other candidates are sitting in the corners of their respective hotel rooms, misty eyed…


…at the prospect that they are being denied his company at all of the usual campaign haunts (stealing away the trail crowds from there) or sucking time during the debate.  Frankly, I rather fancy that their response is more akin to:

 

In fact, overjoyed might well be an understatement for their reaction. Face it, all these Wannabees have egos and sharing the stage is not part of that ego.

Now, Craig may well be right; some of the Iowan activists may well be in a snit – no matter, we’re not.  We’ve learned patience – granite has been around for millions of years (er, we won’t mention The Old Man in the Mountain who kinda failed at cliff jumping…) and we’re used to waiting out our overly long winters.

Besides, they ALL tell us they love coming to visit us (MSM not withstanding – ah, yes – late January in Northern Coos County is such a treat for the likes of NYT, LAT, WaPo, Chicago Tribune,  ABC, CBS, NBC, and the rest of the  lickspittle bootlicking boosters of Obama who more than likely, will be acting just like this once again).

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