did bill help barack?

That's the question The New York Times is asking r.e. the Iowa caucus.

The 2 percent solution

Ah, Bill, isn't it time to drop out? I mean, you're not going to win and, last we checked, isn't there a legislative session starting here soon that could maybe use a governor?
Also, let's face it, Obama got it going on.

Politics vs. Policy in Bill's Second Choice

In the last post, we speculated on who Bill would choose as his second choice. According to most of the online questionnaires, Clinton was the closest in agenda. And yet! The Iowa Independent is reporting that Bill's endorsed Obama as the go-to guy for his supporters if Bill can't get the required 15 percent to stay in the game.

What's the strategy here? Help Obama win and therefore kill Hill's momentum? Then, Bill could scrape up her supporters?


Or, are the lesser surveys just more accurate than USA Today and ABC?

There's Something About Bill: Survey Says

A version of this article appeared in this week's Santa Fe Reporter.

By Dave Maass
davem@sfreporter.com

Come primary night in Iowa, if a Democratic caucus-goer's candidate doesn'tlook like he or she will make the 15 percent threshold to stay in the game, the voter can switch affiliation.

Bill Richardson is still polling in the single digits in Iowa, and as the days count down to hours, he may have to consider nudging his supporters to back the candidate with the closest platform.

Several Web sites have simplified the selection process to an easy survey; answer the policy questions and the sites generate the most similar candidate. SFR plugged Bill's policies into the top quizzes to determine his best second choices.

ABC News' Match-o-Matic
(www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/)

This 11-question survey by ABC and USA Today focuses primarily on the issues of the Iraq war, immigration and health care. The survey says his second best match is Hillary Clinton, while Joseph Biden came in a close third.


USA Today's Candidate Match Game
(www.usatoday.com/news/politics/)

Although this quiz' questions are identical to ABC's, it's far more interactive and produces different answers. The results show Hillary Clinton is his second choice, and John Edwards is his third.



Minnesota Public Radio's Select a Candidate
(minnesota.publicradio.org/projects/ongoing/select_a_candidate/)
MPR's site generates candidate matches with a 15-point questionnaire. Bill's second choice slot here is a three-way tie between Joseph Biden, John Edwards and Barack Obama. Each agrees with Bill on 75 percent of the issues.


Glassbooth Election 2008
(www.glassbooth.org)
Founded by Rock the Vote and OnTheIssues
.org, the site allows the user to assign 20 points of "weight" to 13 issues, followed by a 20-question survey. Hillary Clinton again is Bill's second choice with an 80 percent position similarity. Mike Gravel comes in third with 79 percent.



VA Joe's Candidate Calculator
(www.vajoe.com/candidate_calculator.html)
More than 1.5 million people have used this fairly vague questionnaire. Like the results from MPR's game, Bill's second choice is a three-way tie between Joseph Biden, John Edwards and Barack Obama, all of whom agree with him 87.5 percent of the time.



Go To Quiz' Pick Your 2008 Candidate
(www.gotoquiz.com/candidates/2008-quiz.html)

At GoToQuiz.com, users can create quizzes like "How Pittsburgh are you?" and "Am I a lesbian?" Bill's results have Barack Obama and Chris Dodd tying for second with 85 percent agreement on issues ranging from the death penalty to Darfur.

Last Minute Attacks on Richardson?

Yeah... but really low budget ones.

Radiation Billness

SFR contributor and blogger Laura Paskus has a critical analysis of Bill Richardson's energy policy, among other things, in this month's issue of The Progressive. It's definitely worth reading, especially if, for a second, you thought that Richardson's policies would stand up to the scrutiny the media aims at first tier candidates.

¡Yo Quiero Taco Bill!

A version of this story appeared in the Santa Fe Reporter.

By Dave Maass
davem@sfreporter.com

This month, Republican Mike Huckabee pushed into the near-lead slot in Iowa thanks to a roundhouse endorsement from Chuck Norris.

Like Huckabee, Bill Richardson is also an ambitious candidate with gubernatorial experience. Yet, none of his celebrity endorsements—not even Martin “I played a President on TV” Sheen—have budged him from his second-tier status. But maybe Richardson can finally score an “Early Four” state now that Carlos Alazraqui, the voice of the Taco Bell Chihuahua, is stumping and stand-upping for him in Nevada.

SFR asked Alazraqui, who also plays Deputy James Garcia on the Comedy Central show Reno 911!, how he’s helping the cause:

SFR: How does a Richardson campaign joke go?
CA: I don’t do jokes about his campaign. I talk about what we have in office, about how it’s hard for me to trust a president who I believe has to study from cue cards every morning. [Bush impression]. Workin’ hard. Doin’ a good job. Makin’ progress. Stay the course.

You’re also the voice of the Taco Bell Chihuahua. That’s an iconic role.
It was at the forefront for three years, from ’97 to 2000. People still remember it nostalgically. It’s very bizarre to be part of the American zeitgeist both as a talking Chihuahua and a racist sheriff.

Do you feel being a celebrity has an impact?
Maybe I’m not as big as Oprah. I mean, I’m a basic cable comedy actor, but, you know, why not? They feel like they know us, so maybe in that sense we have the power at least to get them to go and vote for any of the candidates on either side.

Would you like to see Bill as vice president if he doesn’t win the primary?
Whatever position of the Cabinetry he can get would be fantastic. He brings a lot of experience. Maybe he’s saying that [he wouldn’t accept the post] at this point in time because he’s still in the race. To say that would sort of admit defeat. I think he will accept some sort of position if he’s not elected via the primaries.

Could you endorse Bill with the Chihuahua voice?
Yeah!