Fred drops.

The GOP primary field got smaller today. Fred Thompson dropped out after placing third in South Carolina. This puts conservatives in a real pickle. Who to back now? Giuliani? Not a chance. Paul? Except for his head in the sand stand on Iraq and the fact that he has no chance then maybe. That leaves Huckabee, McCain, and Romney. McCain makes no claim to be conservative and the sting of remarks made in 2000 still rankles. Huckabee at least claims to be a conservative. He isn't though in most areas and seems to have a problem getting his positions and stories lined out. That leaves Romney. Not a first choice by any means but perhaps one of the few real Republicans left in the hunt.

SC Decides.

South Carolina chose John McCain. Hunter is out of the race and it looks like Thompson is on the ropes. Romney still leads the delegate count and so is comfortable for now. He needs to follow up Nevada with additional wins though. Huckabee appears to be in about the same boat. Interestingly, both lead McCain in delegates even after South Carolina. Florida is fast approaching with its winner take all primary. McCain is leading in the polls there and if he wins that could just break Rudi. Time will tell I suppose.

Voting in Charleston.

Well, South Carolina is in the process of conducting their Republican primary as I write. I am concerned to say the least. South Carolina has never really bothered me before because they are generally pretty conservative. It seems like this time though things are a bit different.

McCain has gained traction there that he never got in 2000 and Huckabee is riding high on a wave of evangelicals and homeschoolers who are emotionally tied to him. The true Reagan conservative (read: Fred Thompson) is fighting with Romney for third in the most recent polls. Fred does seem to be moving up though and I hope that even if he doesn't win he will stay in. Richard Land seems to think that evangelicals are waking up and taking another look at Huckabee and are switching to Thompson. This could account for some of the upward movement. Of course, if Fred can't afford to stay in then all the second looks at Huck could be for naught. Evangelicals and homeschoolers could find themselves out in the cold when they realize that Huckabee is not a conservative and could lay some very dangerous groundwork if elected.

As one who considers himself to be an evangelical and was homeschooled from second grade through highschool I find the Huckabee movement to be somewhat confusing. Sure the man is pro-life and pro-homeschool. I'll also give him his profession of faith and classify him as sincere and well-meaning. All that makes his misunderstanding of the U.S. Constitution, big government views, and lack of straight talk even more concerning. Sure he means well. Equally sure is that he will grow the government and make it even more intrusive than it already is. Ok, so he is a good man of faith. Who will take over from him and how will they use the machinery that he has put into place?

Romney on the rebound.

Well, Mitt Romney won Michigan and Wyoming. That puts him back in the running and actually gives him more delegates at this point than either Huckabee or McCain. Boy am I glad to see Romney win one. He is really my second choice but neither Huckabee nor McCain are my first. I was fearing that they would be able to knock him out of the race without ever facing him in a true GOP primary. That would have been bothersome and might have destroyed the party.

With a possible recession looming I really don't think we need the liberal fiscal policies of Mike Huckabee. I don't doubt that he is a good man and means well but he is not a conservative on fiscal matters. He is a populist. If folks would just look at what he is saying and advocating I think the conservatives who are supporting him would have to jump ship. Sadly the Republicans seem to be following the Democrats by judging a candidate solely on his personality and likability rather than by the whole package.

Of course McCain isn't a conservative and doesn't really claim to be. He wins by drawing in the moderates, Dems, and Independents. That will end when he gets into the closed primary states. Hopefully his chances at the nomination will end there as well.

I have several questions and concerns about Romney but none to the level of McCain or Huckabee. While I wouldn't just go wild about him he is the one of the three who have won to this point that I feel most comfortable with.

Giving it a second try.

Been a long while since I posted. Got to thinking and decided that I should give the blog thing another try. Not that I have much interesting to say, just think it would be a good exercise. I don't really make New Year's resolutions but if I did this would be one. Hopefully I can stick with it and come up with something interesting to post.

What are they thinking?

Well, here in my state the GOP party is a bit wacky to say the least. A couple of years ago we had an election for governor. Well, the ticket on the Republican side was open and so there was a primary. The conservative won. No big deal, I didn't think. In the past when moderates have beat out conservatives in the primary then conservative voters have stuck with the party. Apparently this rule only runs one way as all the moderates defected and voted Democrat. Needless to say we now have a Democrat governor.

What really cracks me up is folks reaction to that fact. Recently the legislature passed concealed carry (yes, we are one of the 4 or 5 states that does not allow it). There was much debate and discussions as to if the governor would sign the bill or veto it. I was astounded. Are people really that stupid? She had run on a platform of vetoing concealed carry and had stated in a radio debate that she would veto any such bills. What kind of lunatics were even wondering what would happen? After she vetoed the bill I went around and patted folks on the back. You moderates must be real proud of your governor...

Of course if my candidate does not win in the primaries from now on I reserve the right to vote for and campaign for another party. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Wet Weekend

Went over to St. Louis this past weekend. There was a Civil War reenactment at Ft. Bellefontaine. It was a very interesting weekend.

I was planning on leaving after I got off of work on Friday. Late Thursday night I got an e-mail from a guy wanting a ride. I replied and told him that I needed his address, directions to his place, and his phone number by noon on Friday. He supplied his address, nothing else, so much for reading comprehension in the government schools. Good thing for him that Mrs. Spiff pulled directions off the net so I could find his place. I sent him an e-mail and told him I would be at his place at 1600. Got there and he wasn't home, all that trouble for naught. (More reading comprehension problems in the government schools?) I left a note and pushed on.

Picked up Sgt. Cox in Topeka at around 1800. Smooth trip from there to the event site. Got in between rain showers and set up tents. Laid down a thick layer of straw to sleep on and got our uniforms on. Rained all night but I stayed dry.

It was raining so much on Saturday morning that revelry was cancelled and we just got out of our tents when the rain let up. To everyone's great wonder Sgt. Cox got a fire going. This was really amazing since the camp was one big mud puddle. Got breakfast and then visited with the other guys for awhile. Nobody knew anything about the schedule. Suddenly word came down from battalion HQ to get suited up and ready to move out. We had the "honor" of moving out as pickets to find the enemy. We found him and a sharp fight ensued. The rest of the battalion came up and we were pulled back to refit. Almost got cut off and captured here. We were then sent to the right flank to guard a battery from "a couple of dismounted cavalry". Didn't take us long to realize that command was suffering from delusions. We were facing three times out number and they had Henry rifles. Made for a short fight and in the end we were all captured by mounted cav that circled around behind us. What a disaster. A whole company gone and four guns captured. General Beck captured as well, however he declared that "we won". Ok, sure. Later the color sergeant explained to me that the sheets of water coming from the sky was blowing off the trees. I concluded that anyone on battalion or brigade staff had to be suffering from RDD (reality deficit disorder). Rained half the night on Saturday night.

Sunday dawned clear and muddy. To my shock I had stayed dry again the night before. Attended to the incidentals and got called to form up for battle after Sgt. Cox and I had already packed most all of our gear in the car. Marched about a mile to battle and fought in a wonderful fight. Only thing that marred it was the lack of Yankees. Later we found out that the hardcore yanks had pulled out on Saturday night. Weird. Hopped in the car following the battle and took off for home. Dropped Sgt. Cox off in Topeka and made it safely back.

Spent part of today drying out gear... Man I love this hobby.