HERE'S SOME BEEF FROM IOWA

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Romney on Abortion - 2002

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sourced by Jiner

The Iowa straw poll yesterday was a funfest for some and a $35-giveaway for candidates. For Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee life in a Chines Fire Drill was worth their prizes.

USA Today shows us--or speculates about--the overall money spent, reporting that

• Sam Brownback spent about $325,000 for 2,192 votes, $148.27 for each vote,
  
• Mike Huckabee, about $150,000 for 2,587 votes, $57.98 per vote.
  
• USA says Mitt Romney has not said how much he spent but that the reporting in this Washington Post article suggests at least $2 million, or $442.87 per vote.

For most, however, "the significance" is the issue. On Fox News Sunday, Romney had this to say:

WALLACE: What do you see as the significance of your victory yesterday?
M. ROMNEY: Well, it's a big start getting ready for the caucuses. You want to do well in the straw poll so that you can build the organization, get your fundraising machine under way, make sure that your message connects with the people of Iowa, because if you can do well in the straw poll, it gives you the real boost that you need to go on to the caucuses...

Some pundits, of course, ran straight to the winner's religious issue. According to the Voice of America, Christian Bible-College Professor Kevin Lucas, asked if Romney would try to run the country as a Mormon said, "My view so far is that all I have seen and heard from him and his family and the ads and interviews and everything is that he is going to run the country conservatively and that his Mormonism will not come into play any more than Clinton's Christianity or Bush's Christianity."

Big Time gun Mark Halperin first professed no surprise at Romney's win, and he goes on

Huckabee, with his engaging manner, gubernatorial experience, and credential as a Baptist minister, may now be able to force his way into the first tier. He appeared, beaming, in the media area at the end of the evening and for the first time in the campaign, he was mobbed by journalists....

Across the way, Bloomberg.com's post-poll comment goes right at Romney's faux pas concerning his sons' military service choices.

Meanwhile, on the red hustings, there is another sort of fire drill going on at FreeRepublic.com
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UPDATE: Our investigation found no Professor Kevin Lucas associated with the Christian Bible College. No response to our inquery to the College had been received before this went on site.