Republican Iowa Caucus

Republican Iowa Caucus
Iowa: Huckabee 28% Romney 25%
Wednesday, November 28, 2007




The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of the Iowa caucus finds former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee with 28% of the vote, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney with 25% support, and everyone else far behind. National frontrunner Rudy Giuliani gets just 12% of the vote in Iowa at this time while former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson is the only other candidate in double digits at 11%.
Given the margin of error, the challenges of determining the relatively small number of people who will participate in a caucus, and other factors, the race is far too close to call at this point in time. However, the fact that Romney is no longer the clear frontrunner in Iowa reflects a stunning change in the race.
Compared to our prior survey, the trend is unmistakable—Huckabee has gone up and just about everybody else has gone down. Huckabee’s 28% support represents a twelve point increase from a Rasmussen Reports poll conducted earlier in the month. Romney is down four points while Giuliani and Thompson are each down three points from the previous survey. John McCain is down two points and earns just 4% support. Ron Paul picked up a point and is now at the 5% level.
Forty-eight percent (48%) of Evangelical Christians support Hucakbee. That’s more than all the other candidates combined. Romney attracts 16% of the Evangelical vote.
Among those who have participated in the caucuses before, Huckabee attracts 30% support while Romney is at 23%. Among those who have not taken part in the caucuses before, it’s Romney 29% Huckabee 26%. A separate Rasmussen Reports article looks at some of the questions that would be raised if Huckabee wins the Iowa caucuses.
Overall, Romney is the second choice for 21% of likely caucus participants. Huckabee is the second choice for 16%, Giuliani for 15% and Thompson for 14%.
The field still remains quite fluid. Twelve percent (12%) of likely caucus participants say there is a good chance they could still change their mind while 29% say they might change their mind. Among those who say there is a good chance they might change their mind, Romney is the second choice for 25%, Giuliani for 21%, Thompson for 18%, and Huckabee for 17%.
Fifty-three percent (53%) of Huckabee supporters say they are certain to vote for him. Forty-nine percent (49%) of Giuliani’s supporters say the same along with 48% of Romney voters and 46% of those for Thompson.
At the other extreme, 17% of Giuliani supporters say there is a good chance they could change their mind before January 3 arrives. Sixteen percent (16%) of Romney’s backers say the same along with 12% of those for Huckabee and 8% for Thompson.
Among those likely to take part in the Iowa Republican caucuses, Romney is viewed favorably by 77%, Huckabee by 76%, Giuliani by 68%, and Thompson by 71%. Those numbers reflect an eleven point-gain for Huckabee and a six-point decline for Giuliani while impressions of the other candidates is essentially unchanged.
As for unfavorables, just 20% offer a negative assessment of Huckabee. Twenty-one percent (21%) have an unfavorable opinion of Romney, 24% say the same about Thompson, and 30% have a negative opinion of Giuliani.
McCain’s numbers have fallen since the previous Rasmussen Reports survey. Among Republicans likely to participate in the caucus, 54% have a favorable opinion of the Arizona Senator while 44% have an unfavorable view.
Ron Paul is viewed favorably by 39% and unfavorably by 52%.
Highlighting the personal nature of the Iowa caucuses, 44% of those who are likely to participate have seen at least one of the Presidential candidates in person this year.
Forty-six percent (46%) of likely caucus participants think that Romney will win in Iowa this year while 25% think Huckabee will win on January 3. No other candidate reaches double digits.
Thirty-four percent (34%) believe that Romney will ultimately win the GOP nomination. Twenty-four percent (24%) believe Giuliani will represent the GOP in 2008 while 16% think that Huckabee will emerge victorious in the end.
Twenty-five percent (25%) of likely caucus participants identified immigration as the most important voting issue. Twenty-one percent (21%) named national security as their top issue while 18% said the economy was most important and 14% ranked the War in Iraq as the top issue.
While Huckabee has caught Romney in Iowa, the former Massachusetts Governor enjoys a strong lead in New Hampshire, site of the first-in-the-nation Presidential Primary. Rasmussen Reports is polling in New Hampshire this week and will release new results later in the week.
All polling for caucus events presents challenges in determining who is likely to show up and participate. In conducting and analyzing this survey, Rasmussen Reports reviewed results for many possible levels of turnout. While the results varied modestly depending upon the turnout model, the overall dynamic was the same in all cases—Huckabee in the lead with Romney closely behind while Giuliani, and Thompson lagged.

Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information.


The Rasmussen Reports ElectionEdge™ Premium Service for Election 2008 offers the most comprehensive public opinion coverage ever provided for a Presidential election.
Scott Rasmussen, president of Rasmussen Reports, has been an independent pollster for more than a decade.

Minstrel Banjo Project.

During the Thanksgiving holiday, between travels and meals, I will start construction of my handmade minstrel banjo. Hopefully, this will turn out how I have it envisioned. Time will tell. The great challenges are many. First, this will be the first attempt at construction of any instrument, by myself. Secondly, carving the neck in some type of proper dimension will be task full. Third, will this thing play like a true banjo of the period.

I am excited about the whole process.

I will update my progress and outcomes.

11/27/07

So far, I have gathered my materials and have drawn out the neck. I did not get to work on the project, as I had hoped.
I am not quite sure of my design and dimensions, but I think they will work. I have been reading all that I can in this regard. I have chosen the Boucher design. The design, at the right,was created by William E. Boucher Jr. in the 1850's. I am adding my own elements because I really don't know what I am doing.




Nov 28, 2007

I had to buy more supplies. I can't figure out how to trim my hoop to fit the rim on it. I need to rout off about 1/4 inch. I will have to get a router bit. I am going to try cutting the neck this evening. I will post pictures.



Dec 3, 2007





I have made progress on the banjo. I have the neck carved and I am doing the finish sanding. The next step is finish sanding the rim. The neck is of curly maple and the rim is of three layers of maple. I will have to figure out how to drill the neck and rim to connect the two by and oak dowel. I will te have to rout the rim for the brass ring for the head.
Here are some photos of the materials and progress.


Some of the neck progress. Showing the head detail.



The rim before any sanding
Piece of Rosewood for the tail piece, before shaping.


The 12" solid brass rim.
The end of the neck.

More photos of the more finished neck to come...

December 13

Myprojects always take too long. I have very little time to work on anything by myself. Demands abound!!

These are more finished pictures. I most recently drilled the neck to accomadate the dowel that will extend through the hoop. Tough to get that right. The other challenge is to carve the base of the neck to follow the contour of the hoop. I have done this, but not to my satisfaction. This is the only picture I have at this time. I will have to take others...

"America" by Nicolas Sarkozy, the new president of France

I never thought I would be quoting the President of France on anything, much less a Pro America speech. The new President of France could teach our politicians a thing or two. He spoke about what America stands for and how he views the USA. Many of us have forgotten the greatness of our republic. The United States stands for many things, but it can be stated simply and with power. These are some translated excerpts from the speech given by Sakozy. He spoke on November the 7th and he addressed a joint meeting of the House and the Senate.

"To the millions of men and women who came from every country in the world and who, with their own hands, their intelligence, and their hearts, built the greatest nation in the world, America did not say, "Come, and everything will be given to you." Rather, she said, "Come, and the only limits to what you will be able to achieve will be those of your own courage, your boldness, and your talent."


"The America that we love throughout the world embodies this extraordinary ability to grant each and every person a second chance, another chance -- because, in America, failure is never the last word. There is always another chance. Here, in your country, on this soil, both the humblest and the most illustrious citizens alike know that nothing is owed to them and that everything has to be earned. That is what constitutes the moral value of America."


"America liberated us, and this is an eternal debt we owe America."

"Every time, whenever an American soldier falls somewhere in the world, I think of what the American army did for France. I think of them, and I am sad as one is saddened to lose a member of one's family."


We need France to be stronger. I am determined to carry through with the reforms that my country has put off for all too long. I will not turn back. I will implement all of them because France has turned back for all too long. I have come to present to you today a France that comes out to meet America, to renew the covenant of friendship and alliance that Washington and Lafayette sealed in Yorktown. Together let us be true to their memories. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I say this to you on behalf of the French people: "Long live the United States of America! Long live France! Long live French-American friendship!"


Many folks say that the USA is not respected in the world. I have always heard that the French dislike us. The President of France seems to expound something to the contrary. The people of France that I have met have always expressed their love of the US. Never believe anything someone tells you until you prove it for yourself.

Long live Freedom and the United States of America!!!

Viva la France!!!

The Fair Tax!!!!

What is the FairTax plan?

In Brief:

The FairTax plan is a comprehensive proposal that replaces all federal income and payroll based taxes with an integrated approach including a progressive national retail sales tax, a prebate to ensure no American pays federal taxes on spending up to the poverty level, dollar-for-dollar federal revenue neutrality, and, through companion legislation, the repeal of the 16th Amendment.

The FairTax Act (HR 25, S 1025) is nonpartisan legislation. It abolishes all federal personal and corporate income taxes, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, and self-employment taxes and replaces them with one simple, visible, federal retail sales tax administered primarily by existing state sales tax authorities.

The FairTax taxes us only on what we choose to spend on new goods or services, not on what we earn. The FairTax is a fair, efficient, transparent, and intelligent solution to the frustration and inequity of our current tax system.


The FairTax:

>>>Enables workers to keep their entire paycheck
>>>Enables retirees to keep their entire pension
>>>Reimburses the tax on purchases of basic necessities
>>>Allows American products to compete fairly
>>>Brings transparency and accountability to tax policy
>>>Ensures Social Security and Medicare funding
>>>Closes all loopholes and brings fairness to taxation
>>>Abolishes the IRS

Now does this plan not sound great. Simplification of ones life is a lifelong pursuit of mine. This would certainly end one worry in my life. Countless hours spent with worry and calculation at tax time. Also, what about the audit? Did I do everything correctly? Let's hope so.

Let us travel back to the founders of this great Nation. Jefferson, the greatest constitutionalist, believed in a strong but limited central government. The abolition of the current tax code, would reduce the size and reach of government significantly.

I know that my Congressman supports the Fair Tax. How do I know this? I asked him and I continue to encourage the reform.

Go to www.fairtax.org and get more info and get involved. It is time to enact this plan for the future growth of our Nation.

Read the book by Neal Boortz and Congressman John Linder of Georgia. If you need to borrow a copy, I may have one for you. I have introduced and planted this idea in hundreds of minds. Many have taken a book, read it and passed it own.

Check it out.

My new found intrest in period banjo...

This is an item written by Dr. Horsehair and fom his website:

Banjo during the Civil War

by Bob Flesher

At the time of the Civil War, or as it is referred to in the South: "The War of Southern Independence", The War Between The States", or "The War of Northern Aggression", the banjo and fiddle were the most popular instruments of both player and listener. The popular minstrel scene with all of its musical and political satire had been the pop music of the day for a almost twenty years. Every kids dream was to learn the banjo, fiddle or bones and run off with the traveling minstrel show, and many of them did. Remember, there was no music available at the push of a button, you had to make the music yourself or know some one who could. It was only natural when the war broke out and the call to arms on both sides was answered, there were literally thousands of banjo pickers, fiddlers, and bones players joining up, both professional and amateurs.
To illustrate this point, there is an interesting story by a Mr. A. Baur in his series of articles called "Reminiscences of a Banjo Player", published in the February, 1893, issue of S.S. Stewarts "Banjo and Guitar Journal". Baur had learned the banjo as a boy in the early 1850s and had joined the Union army early in the war. He writes "...In 1864 there very few regiments in the service that had more than one wagon for the whole regiment... Strict orders were at all times issued that no baggage must be carried for an enlisted man in any of the wagons...Where theres a will, theres a way, and a few of us managed with the help of a friendly teamster to stow away a tackhead banjo and an accordion...
If the weather was pleasant a crowd would gather around the camp fire, the banjo and accordion having been sneaked out of the wagon and a door from some farm house or a couple of boards having been put on the ground on one side of the fire, the audience would take its place on the opposite side, when the evenings entertainment would be gone through with. It consisted of songs with banjo and accordion accompaniment, stories of home and jig dancing. The performances were crude but helped while away many a lonely hour and remind us of home and friends in the far north.
Owing to poor facilities for keeping the instruments in order, the instrumental part of our entertainments were always the poorest. Sometimes it would be weeks before we could get a (banjo) string, and if the banjo head was broken, it took much time and maneuvering for one of our party to steal into the tent of a drummer and punch a hole in a drum (head) near the shell, after which we would watch that drummers tent with eagle eyes until he took the damaged head and threw it out, when one of the gang would pounce on it and bring it to camp in a round about way. Owing to their thickness, the drum heads did not make very good banjo heads, but they beat nothing clear out of sight. In addition to the banjo and accordion, we had a set of beef bones and a sheet iron mess pan answered for a tambourine. Taking into consideration our surrounding and the disadvantages under which we labored, we had some tolerably good shows and at any rate satisfied our open air audiences..."
Every brigade had its own minstrel show with commanders trading or commandeering the best talent for his band not to mention the thousands of banjos being player by the fire every night. John Billings writes in his book, "The Unwritten Story of Army Life", published in 1889, "There was probably not one regiment in the service that did not boast at least one violinist, one banjoist, and a bones player in its ranks...and one or all of them could be heard in operation, either inside or in a company street, most any pleasant evening....The usual medley of comic songs and negro melodies comprised the greater part of the entertainment, and, if the space admitted, a jig or clog was stepped out on a hard tack box or other crude platform."
The most famous banjo player of the war was Sam Sweeney who was an orderly for General J.E.B. Stuart, commander of the cavalry in the Army of Northern Virginia. Sams fame was derived from his brother, Joel Sweeney, who is credited as the inventor of the five-string banjo and the music there of. Sam Sweeneys only job during the war was to play banjo for the troops and General Stuart, his officers and guests..
Several years ago, while busy building banjos, I received a call from a fellow who was procuring props for a movie which was being filmed only a few miles from me. It was the Ted Turners Civil War mini-series, "Andersonville". This film was about the life the Union soldiers endured in this notorious Confederate prison camp. They wanted me to build two authentic Civil War style banjos for the film since their would be a fight scene and one might get broken. I already offered an authentic 1860s minstrel banjo called the "Sam Sweeney" model, so I built two of them for the film. I also taught one of the co-stars of the movie, Ted Marcoux who portrays Martin Blackburn, to play the old minstrel banjo stroke style on these frettless banjos in just eight hours. I didnt think it could be done but when you see him play in the movie, youll be convinced he has been playing all his life. This film is an excellent portrayal of a banjo player in a Civil War prison. In one scene he pulls the banjo out of the mud while it is soaked with rain and plays it. To my astonishment, it sounded good with soaked gut strings, and calfskin head. This film is available at most of the video stores and is one any banjo player won't want to miss.
Today in many of the events you might see some fellows recreating these scenes above. In order to portray the scene accurately, the banjo should be a good reproduction of an original banjo. A good reproduction would be frettless (no little strips of metal crossing the fingerboard) with gut or at least nylon strings, with friction tuners. The neck should be wider than a normal banjo being about two inches wide where it joins the rim.It should have an authentic calfskin head not plastic. The metal parts should be bare brass or steel with no nickel plating and the number of hooks holding down the metal ring which tightens the head should be between six and twelve. The metal band might be painted. It was quite common for the head to be installed on the rim with brass tacks. This is called a tackhead as referred to in the story above. The advantage is that it is simple and light to carry. The disadvantage is there is no way to tighten the head when it goes soft because of rain, dew, or high humidity. This makes the tone become thumpy and muddled. The only solution to a soft head is to hold it over the campfire a few minutes. It will tighten up for about twenty minutes and give a more brilliant tone.
I am the first banjo builder to build reproductions of authentic minstrel banjos and have several accurate models available. I offer them on my web site WWW.FlesherBanjo.com I also have available several banjo kits which you can complete as many of the soldiers might have done. It comes with the neck shaped and ready for final sanding, all of the critical cut and holes are completed. The kit comes with detailed instructions and a book which I have written which will teach you to play the old "stroke style" quickly. It has 25 authentic song included, many of which are quaint and funny.
Speaking of music, the soldiers did not usually sit around the fire and sing sad or patriotic songs. These kind of songs were performed on stage for the civilian population. The soldiers usually enjoyed the upbeat, and sometimes humorous minstrel music, which was the pop music of the day; which would lift their spirits and for a while take their mind off their plight. I offer many of the songs on tape and CD performed with original instruments of the period. I have done much research into this music and how it was played and try to make these recordings accurate so what you hear is exactly what you would have heard had you been there. I also offer historical data on the era and books on how to play. The banjo is an easy instrument to learn and you will derive much satisfaction from mastering it as well as join a long tradition of banjo players starting with Joel Sweeney in the 1820s and continuing with Americans building this nation for the last 180 years.


I find a new intrest each day it seems. These are things that occupy my mind. I have these distractions to help me manage the life of a husband, father and worker. Most of my activities are important to very few. Very few people understand why I am interested in the things I enjoy.

On this day, I have started to study Minstrel Banjo. My hope is to play and sing period songs of the 1840s through the Civil War period. I will combine this with a personal impression of a Minstrel of the time.