Damn those Iowans, making everything really complicated and difficult for the mainstream media, making them actually have to earn their keep. You know, not allowing the oh-so-clued-in mavens of Washington, New York, and -- bizarrely -- Atlanta, to narrow the race to a really convenient and easy two-man contest, a narrowing that not only makes their lives easier but makes the publisher's office really happy, what with reduced costs and all, dontcha know.

Adam Nagourney of the New York Times today writes ("As Iowa Caucuses Near, Crystal Ball Gets Cloudy"):

What until last week had seemed like a two-way contest for first between Howard Dean and Representative Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri has turned into what Democrats described as a four-way free-for-all with two days remaining before Monday's caucuses. In campaign headquarters across this unseasonably warm capital, senior advisers struggled to figure out who was up and who was down, prompting a dizzying volley of attacks.[?]

A poll of likely caucusgoers [sic] to be published by [t]he Des Moines Register on Sunday underlined the sense of of [sic] uncertainty about Monday's vote, with victory in reach of any of them. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts had 26 percent, followed by Senator John Edwards with 23 percent and Dr. Dean with 20 percent. [Margin of error: +/- 4 points.] [...]

Polls in Iowa are famously imprecise [Ed.: Hence the "margin of error" of a mere four points.], given the difficulty of determining who actually attends caucuses and what they might do in the course of what is supposed to be two hours of deliberation. The only other candidate running in Iowa is Representative Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio.

Oh, hey, wow, cool. My favored candidate actually garners a mention in the Times. Gee, I don't know, maybe it's time to pay at least a little bit of attention to Kucinich's campaign? (Good God, the town to which I may soon move probably has but two other Kucinich supporters. New York primary: March 2. I wonder, is there a 30-day residency requirement? Pennsylvania? Please, April 27. Appropriately irrelevant. Or at least that's how it looks right now.)

By the way, blogger John of Waremouse has headed off to Iowa. Or, at least, he's trying to get there. John's a Dean man, but I won't hold that against him. I won't hold anything against anyone who's supporting anyone who's in the race to defeat President George W. Bush.

I mean that. Get off your duff. Pick a candidate, any candidate. Make your voice heard. Stop the insanity, the lunacy, the ignorance, the stupidity, the recklessness. Give that unelectable, miserable failure his one-way ticket to the inexplicably constant clearing of brush back in East Jesus, Texas.