Campaign Update -- One the beat for Wednesday August 8,2007

Just a brief update on each campaign three days before the Iowa - Ames Straw Poll.

Mitt Romney - Mitt is still being a victim of Brownback's whine tour through the primary states, Brownback has taken out a two minute television ad attacking Gov. Romney's record on abortion. It has not effected Romney though, he is still on top of the polls in Iowa and has even widened his margin from Giuliani who is trailing behing him in some polls.

Mike Huckabee - Mike is touring Iowa in his new ride, which is currently subject to a naming-contest on his website MikeHuckabee.com and his campaign undoubtedly has the most momentum heading into the Iowa Straw Poll on Saturday. Huckabee also signed up to attend and speak at the Midwest Republican Leadership Conference in Indianapolis, Indiana later this month. Huckabee also saw many kind words from former Speaker of the House and leader of the Republican take-over in 1994 and 1996, Newt Gingrich said Huckabee "Will catch on" Gingrich has a eye on how to win and this could be a little for shadowing of who might be the GOP nominee. Gingrich would not go as far as an endorsement because he will make his final decision on running in October.

Rudy Giuliani - It is not getting any easier for Rudy. In the last week Giuliani has been questioned about his Catholicism and then his own teenage daughter has come out in support of Barack Obama and has publicly influenced her friends to support Barack online on Facebook.

Fred Thompson - Suspicion of Fred jumping in the race is growing higher and higher and just this week Thompson upgraded his website ImWithFred.com which looks like a Presidential campaign if I've ever seen one. Fred will be on the ballot at the Iowa Straw Poll, but will not be speaking at the event. As mentioned in the ranking this week, the results of the poll could effect his chances in joining the race.

John McCain - McCain continues to watch candidates pass him in the polls. Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee have both leaped over McCain since the race started early this year and both Tom Tancredo and Sam Brownback are closing in on him. He has not had hardly anything fall his way in the last month. He will not be participating in the Straw Poll, but his name will be on the ballot. In 1999 he did not do well at all in the Straw Poll when he only pulled in around 5% of the vote. This go around his campaign is in much worse shape and he is not even expected to pull in 5% at the Straw Poll on Saturday.

Tom Tancredo - Congressman Tancredo has been spending his time away from Washington wisely and is another candidate who has been burning up the road. Yesterday his campaign focused on Northwest Iowa and his campaign trail will start to make it's way towards Ames for Saturday. Tancredo has said he faces the reality that if he does not finish in the top half that he will likely not have much of an option to continue. Tancredo said, “I think you do have to be in the top half of the group. I mean I just don't see any way that you can really go forward here. The money starts to dry up. It is the first part of the whittling down process."

Duncan Hunter - Congressman Hunter has been very busy on Capitol Hill working on the case of the two border patrol officers who are serving a "harsh" sentence for basically doing their jobs and he is currently working on a rare Congressional Pardon for them. Hunter's presidential campaign has been pretty quite as of late because of this. We'll see how and if this will effect him in the Straw Poll on Saturday.

Sam Brownback - Brownback has continued his attack campaign towards Mitt Romney and also Mike Huckabee to a lesser degree. Brownback said he thinks he is in a "good" position going into the Straw Poll on Saturday. At a speech in Sioux City he said “I’ve classified myself all along as a tortoise in this race, and I think we look pretty good. I’ve been crawling and moving forward. I don’t know how it’s going to come out but I do think, particularly on our side of the aisle, the time is set for a dark horse candidate to come forward." If Sam Brownback is a "tortoise" I think I speak for most of use when I say go back into your shell! I do agree with him on one thing, A dark house candiate will come forward, but it will not be Senator Brownback.

Tommy Thompson - Many websites including this one are predicting Tommy Thompson to be the first candidate to drop out after the Straw Poll on Saturday. Like Huckabee, Tancredo, Hunter and Brownback, Tommy Thompson has dumped almost all of his resources into the Iowa Straw Poll and according to his numbers in Iowa polls he should do the worst out of these candidates and will probably finish either 9th or 10th. And if he does, his campaign will be over within the next week and a half.

Ron Paul - Congressman Paul has taken out a few 30 sec. television ads in Des Moines, Sioux City and Cedar Rapids. The ads focus on his fiscal conservative record and push for a return to a drastically smaller government with significantly less power, pulling all troops from Iraq and returning to the constitution. If it were only that easy... Most of Dr. Paul's proposals sound great in theory, but when they are rebutted are shrunk down to ideas that would not work in reality. It will be very interesting to see how Ron Paul fairs in the Straw Poll and it will be a make or break point for the legitimacy of his campaign. He may not drop out of the campaign after a bad showing, but his campaign would lose any credibility it ever had of him winning the Republican nomination. Paul has still not proven he can show well with out his "internet cronies" behind him texting messaging or voting online for him. This will be one of the more interesting story lines on Saturday, either way.

Stay tuned all weekend for Straw Poll Coverage.