Joe Justice: Fact Checking

This puts me in the realm of Daily Kos' Markos in terms of self-promotion but oh well.

I read this post from Slate.com's blogger Mickey Kaus today:

Vilsack vs. Iowa: Isn't Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack's presidential run more good news for the Democrats--he'll be the favorite son in Iowa's caucuses, meaning other candidates will have a ready-made excuse to skip them and the press will have a good excuse to downplay them. The sweet, polite fools who fell for the John Kerry authorized bio won't get to do similar damage in 2008. ... P.S.: The CW is presumably that this is also good news for Hillary, who wasn't looking like the likely Iowa winner (and maybe bad news for Edwards, who was). ... 2:34 P.M.

I decided he was kinda wrong. So I actually emailed the guy.

Here's the email exchange:

Vilsack Not Iowa's Pick
From: Joe [Redacted]
Thu, Nov 9, 2006 at 2:57 PM
To: Mickey_Kaus@msn.com
You're a tad off the mark on Vilsack. Recent Des Moines Register polling indicates he's far behind Iowa Democrats in their 2008 preferences, taking third place to Hillary's second and top-spot-taker Edwards. As an Iowan who likes the guy, he wouldn't be the favorite in the caucuses by any means. He's no Harkin, in the minds of caucus-goers. Dems may skip the state as a result, but they shouldn't. Thanks Kaus! Joe

From: Mickey Kaus
Thu, Nov 9, 2006 at 3:03 PM
To: Joe [redacted] mailto:redacted@gmail.com

ok, but they still have an excuse to skip it--e.g. hillary--meaning the press will pay less attention.

I checked the Register poll and Vilsack actually came in 4th, behind Senator joke-botcher Kerry. Kaus may think the Iowans who caucused for Kerry were sweet, polite fools, but I should have reminded him that 49% of the sweet, polite country fell for it as well. Onward and upward.