Actually this is more like seeing the helicopter but it passes you by without seeing you...

Seriously, if I throw myself off a cliff, God could send His angels to catch me and prevent me from dashing my feet - and brains - on the rocks, but just because we see a window of possibility doesn't mean that God is necessarily beckoning to us through it.

We did see this as a possible opportunity, & some of our most dedicated Huck fans looked into the feasibility of it & discerned that it would pretty much take a miracle. They want that miracle as much as you or I do. Knowing that, and that they know a whole lot more about this than we do, I am disinclined to insult their enthusiasm for the cause or to dismiss their assessment of the situation.

God gives us reason as well as faith. And in the parable you relate, the man is ignoring reason and mistakenly calling it faith. The two work together, not in opposition.

The Politics of the Ames Straw Poll Ballot

July 25, 2011

This past Saturday, the official Ames Straw Poll ballot was set, and it included several surprises as far as who was not included. The ballot will be (in alphabetical order):

•Michele Bachmann
•Herman Cain
•Newt Gingrich
•Jon Huntsman
•Thad McCotter
•Ron Paul
•Tim Pawlenty
•Mitt Romney
•Rick Santorum

The less obvious surprises are the exclusion of Gary Johnson and Buddy Roemer, both of whom are announced candidates. In the past, the Iowa GOP has striven to make Ames an inclusive event and has even included little-known, longshot candidates like John Cox on the ballot. This ballot signals a shift towards a more exclusive event as the state party struggles to maintain a balance between fairness to the candidates who paid money and met deadlines, and some sort of relevancy to the actual outcome of the Iowa Caucuses.

But the bigger news that everyone was waiting on was the exclusion of Rick Perry and Sarah Palin from the ballot. As it turns out, the committee voting on the ballot was split down the middle as to whether or not to include Perry and Palin; it came down to a 5-5 vote. The tie was broken by Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn, who made the decision not to include the two potential candidates.

The compromise that the Iowa GOP worked out was interesting, though. For the first time ever (to the best of my knowledge), the straw poll ballot include a spot for write-in votes. Prior to this year, write-in votes were not allowed at Ames and were discarded. Now, however, Perry and Palin fans can go to the poll and write in their preferred candidate. It remains to be seen how big of an impact any write in votes will have, but my guess is not very much. Of course, Strawn indicated in that he has already heard from people who said they will travel to Ames to write in Mike Huckabee’s name.

The real effect of the shorter ballot, however, has to have Bachmann and Pawlenty breathing a little easier — especially Pawlenty. Nobody will be comparing their results to somebody who’s not even running – and after the ballot decision came out, Americans for Perry (the 527 group that is organizing for Perry in Iowa) announced that they would not be putting any further effort into Ames. With the hoopla surrounding a Perry candidacy temporarily removed from the picture, Pawlenty has a much better chance of getting attention and catching some traction in the state now.

by Matt Coulter @ 11:14 am.

http://race42012.com/2011/07/25/the-pol ... ll-ballot/

I think I remember your name! I posted as QVA there, too, but I have not visited in a very long time. Didn't post much to begin with (and with Huck bowing out, there just hasn't been anyone really worth fighting for), but just couldn't deal with the steady stream of obnoxiousness from Rombots like Martha (was so glad to hear that she was finally kicked out). There aren't many civilized places like Huck's Army, more's the pity.

Wow, looks like I've missed a lot in the last couple of days. I'm torn on this issue, but since I'm not in Iowa I can't fully judge the situation. If things change and we decide to go ahead with a write-in campaign I will help donate towards it.

I would definitely support a write in campaign. I will donate a few hundred dollars to print flyers or setup a phone bank, more if it looks professional. He has said he hasn't 100% closed the door on running. I think he could definitely place 4th and get a thousand votes or more.

For those that think that voting for Mike will hurt other candidates who have values similar to Mike, this is only one straw poll, and there will be more debates for other candidates to shine and gain momentum after the straw poll if they don't win. That is not a reason to not vote for Huckabee. The straw poll won't make or break any candidate. If they lose the caucus, it might, but not the straw poll. But the straw poll might cause someone to re-evaluate if they should get in.

Mike originally made it sound like God was telling him not to run, but he has since walked that back quite a bit. There have been numerous interviews where he has said that he doesn't know the future, and that something could change his mind. This could be that something.

Lets do something!

The Huck quote at the end of your post says it all as far as I am concerned. We are waiting for someone to do something (maybe Huck himself) in order for something to happen....but why aren't WE doing anything? It just doesnt make sense to me. So we only have 2 weeks...so what? Maybe the word gets out to a few thousand people between facebook, phone bank, and/or flyers and only 10% of them do anything. Huck could still grab 4th place being a write in. Can you imagine what happens if he beats Romney as a write in (a serious possibility even with only a few hundred votes)???