And who the hell cares what they think in Iowa?

[chrisinhouston]

They couldn't write better fiction then what we have for elections in this country! We are over a year out from the actual 2012 election and once again the whole country is watching what happens at the state fair in Iowa. The biggest questions are:

1. Who will win the Ames straw poll?
2. Will a diet of deep fried sticks of butter give you heart disease?

Let me see if I get this right... The Republican party of Iowa holds a fundraiser at the state fair. For our international Cellar dwellers, a state fair is sort of a mostly midwestern agricultural ritual where everyone gets together to judge pies and jams, eat all kinds of disgusting deep fried foods, watch tractors do a tug of war and learn about corn and cows, sheep and pigs etc. Oh and talk politics...

In Iowa most of the GOP contenders for President get big tents, some even pay for prime spots like Ron Paul shelling out $31K. They have speakers and musical acts, air conditioning and as Bachman pointed out, chairs! They charge everyone entering the tents $30. Then at some point everyone gets to vote and like a Ouija board prophecy the next GOP contender is somehow revealed. Why don't they sell sell Olvatine Secret Decoder Rings as well, you have to buy one to decode the winner!

This sounds like it could have been part of the plot for a Kurt Vonnegut book.