January 1, 2008 9:46 AM
Happy 2008: So, with these new polling numbers, who gets the 'Big Head?'
Clinton's backup band Associated Press photo by Charlie Neibergall
The clock hadn’t even struck midnight before the news hit the streets.
The banner headline in the first Des Moines Register edition of the leap year:
“Poll: Obama, Huckabee lead into the final stretch”
Going into Thursday night’s Iowa caucuses, the final survey by Iowa’s statewide newspaper showed Sen. Barack Obama holding a seven-point lead among Democratic presidential contenders at 32 percent of “likely caucusgoers.” National front-runner, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, was at 25 percent, one point ahead of former Sen. John Edwards.
See the Democratic numbers HERE.
Among Republicans, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee held a six-point lead, 32 percent to 26 percent, over former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. Sen. John McCain had snuck into third place at 13 percent, with Rep. Ron Paul and former Sen. Fred Thompson tied at 9 percent.
See the Republican numbers HERE.
The Register’s poll projects big trouble for Clinton, the woman whose nomination some have called “inevitable.”
But the figures are not without controversy.
In THIS MEMO, Clinton’s chief strategist, Mark Penn, scoffed at the way the Register defined “likely caucusgoers,” because the methods predicted cross-over participation by far more independents and Republicans than has historically been the case.
“The Des Moines Register Poll this time has 40% independent voters and 5% GOP voters in the poll when past independent participation has been 15% in 2000 and 19% in 2004, and the GOP has generally made up 1% of the vote. So they are depicting an unprecedented departure from historically established turnout patterns in the caucus. Under their model, only 55% of the caucus goers would be Democrats.”
Other polls, which use more traditional turnout predictions, show Clinton leading, Penn wrote.
* * *
And so, as the clock ticked down and the New Year began, who had the “big head” going into Thursday night’s caucuses.
The way this race has been going, it’s hard to imagine any of the candidates, Republican or Democratic, sleeping well for the next few days.
But on New Year’s Eve, Clinton had the real “Big Head.”
View image Todd Park Mohr (Photo by M.E. Sprengelmeyer)
For its theme song, Clinton recently dumped Celine Dion’s “You and I” in favor of “Blue Sky” by one of Colorado’s hardest-working bands, “Big Head Todd and the Monsters.”
On Monday night, the band took the stage in downtown Des Moines to help Clinton, her husband, Bill, and daughter Chelsea, ring in the new year.
Back stage, front-man Todd Park Mohr chatted with “Back Roads to the White House” for a few minutes about politics, music and the mixing thereof.
A well-connected friend of the band put the song on Clinton’s radar. It was originally used by NASA to honor the space shuttle’s return to the skies with a female commander in 2005.
“We’re all hoping for a Democratic candidate to win the presidency,” Mohr said. “Between now and November is a long time, of course, but I personally am a big fan of Hillary’s and I’d be really pleased to see her in the presidency… She has been in the White House for eight years, and her experience, in combination with her experience as a senator, she has had a lifetime of public service. And I like where she stands on the issues: health care, education… But at the same time, I think she’s a very pragmatic woman and has the ability to get things done.”
It’s always a risk when entertainers pick sides in a political battle, potentially turning off some fans. (Like us, Mohr said he recently saw a video biography of music legend James Brown that focused on his controversial endorsement of former President Richard Nixon.)
“The nice thing about music is that it isn’t polarizing and it isn’t political,” Mohr said. ”Our fan base is all over the map in that regard. So we’ve been kind of cautious not to sully that… I think there’s always a danger when you get involved in politics, no matter what side you take.”
Still, he has picked his candidate. And when a candidate picks a band, that can cause a stir, too. Remember the renewed attention that ‘70s band Fleetwood Mac got when Clinton’s husband, Bill, picked “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” as his theme in 1992.
So we asked, point blank: Does Big Head Todd and the Monsters hope to become “the next Fleetwood Mac?”
“I hope so, yeah, absolutely,” Mohr said. “I think that’s the dream scene for us.”
January 1, 2008
7:26 PM
Creeley Bukowski Creeley writes:
I worked at a CVS in Pittsburgh back in '97. I was running the register. I looked out the window and say a motorcade pass down Liberty Ave. In the back of a limo I saw the biggest head ever. It was that of Mr. Clinton.
There is your answer.
January 1, 2008
6:56 PM
Louis Nardozi writes:
The dollar slid across the board on Friday as data showing a 9 percent decline in sales of new U.S. homes last month heightened concern about the economy, putting the greenback on track for its worst week in more than a year.
The housing report, which was weaker than economists had expected, also bolstered the case for more Federal Reserve interest rate cuts in 2008. Earlier this week, the S&P/Case-Shiller index showed a record decline in U.S. home prices in October.
This is what's happening to YOUR house. All the 'money' and 'equity' you thought you had saved - eliminated! The equity through falling house prices - and the money because we are DEBASING OUR CURRENCY. That low fed rate you're reading about gets created by printing money and lending it to people. With more money, the money YOU have is worth LESS. So your money is worth less and your property is worth less. We are ALL BEING ROBBED, this is NOT the time to worry about political affiliations. When your HOUSE is on fire, call the Fire Department! Dr. Paul has the only developed plan to massively cut federal spending and restore stability to the dollar! I'm only saying this because I'm a homeowner too. I don't want to lose the thirty years of saving my house represents. I don't need my property taxes sky high because it's worth was inflated artificially! I don't want my savings in mutual funds and CDs savaged by inflation. People, if it's happening to me it's happening to you too. YOUR HOUSE IS ON FIRE! PUT OUT THE FIRE! He's the ONLY one running that has a HOPE of being able to deal with this.