Side Order of Links

Morning Coffee, Side Order of Links

Here's your breakfast of champions for the morning:

McCain made the now-standard Hamburg Inn stop, reports the Press-Citizen, accompanied by Dan Gable. Article also covers the North Liberty event. The Gazette's James Lynch has his take on North Liberty, and joins me in noting "McCain received only tepid applause for saying he would close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo." The DI has its take and the Register caught McCain in Muscatine.

The Underrated One gets one on one time and has a choice lead lede, with McCain saying a pro-choicer would have a hard time getting a GOP nomination. Comments coincide with news that rival Rudy donated to Planned Parenthood as late as 1999.

I finally learned the difference between lead and lede: the first paragraph is spelled "lede" to disinguish it from lead as in Zeppelin which was the metal they used to use to set type. This should have as big an impact on my life as learning it was pronounced LINNux and not LYEnux.

McCain's not the only candidate in town, as Joe Biden does a Gazette editorial board. On Iraq: “The rest of the world thinks we screwed up so badly that our ability to be the catalyst for positive change in the world has been seriously compromised.”

Continuing fallout from Florida's calendar move: Iowa Girl at Kos has a diary that notes Florida legislative Dems were outnumbered and unable to stop the majority GOP from moving the primary date to Jan. 29, and that the date was tied to popular ban-the-touch-screen legislation. The thread includes the Best. Comment. Ever.:

...if Florida votes on January 29th, it will be mid-March before they figure out who won.

Craig Crawford at CQ Politics asks which candidate this helps and answers: Jeb Bush.

The AP looks at the relative accessibility of candidates on the trail. McCain, Mitt, Edwards: easy to talk to. Hillary, Rudy, Obama: Not so much. Everybody else: desperate.

Cyclone Conservative says the very very Republican northwest corner of Iowa feels neglected by the GOP kandidates. CyCon has a poll as a standing sidebar and, to his credit, offers Generic Democrat as a choice. It appears to have been libertarian-spammed as Ron Paul has a 359-32 lead over his nearest rival, Mitt...