The Iowa caucus is, of course, tomorrow. It’s very fascinating to watch, Democrats are spending about $200 a vote in the Iowa caucus. Do you know that less than 3%, less than 5% of Iowans actually, participate in this? Generally the extremes of both parties who show up at these cauci 125,000 people tops, maybe 150. If it’s above 150,000 that participate, the conventional wisdom is that Obama’s going to run away with it because he’s bringing a bunch of independents in. If it’s less than 150, means Mrs. Clinton is going to do lousy and so the forecast right now is 125,000. Bob Novak is saying that Mrs. Clinton is going to come in third in the Hawkeye Cauci, and so what that means is, the Drive-By Media — oh, and, by the way, this is happening, too — the Drive-Bys are sensing Huckabee’s slide, and now they’re back to building up McCain. I told you this was going to happen. They can’t wait to build McCain back up in New Hampshire, so we’ve got a lot to talk about on the program today, and keep it here for three hours, because there’s no way I can do all of this in the first hour or even the first couple of segments. [to staff] Did you get that e-mail, by the way, on the HR-21’s? Well, you said you were going to get the e-mail at noon on the HR-21’s. It’s a distraction I need to get rid of. What’s that, Snerdley? Just tell me. Oh, that’s right, he can’t speak. He’s sending me little notes here.
We’re gonna get to Benazir Bhutto in the Hillary Clinton Stack. She is just making a mess of this. She is just literally making a mess. She’s out there criticizing Pervez Musharraf for saying we ought to cancel the elections because there’s not going to be anybody on the ballot but him. He’s not on the ballot. Pervez Musharraf was elected in October. He’s not on the Pakistan election ballot. These are parliamentary elections. This is a woman claiming she’s got all this experience. She doesn’t even know what’s going on in Pakistan, and then she says that she was so close to Benazir Bhutto and so forth. Snerdley, I can’t get to all of this. I’ve got ten days here that I gotta try to sandwich into one, maybe two days here, so just sit tight in there. But I predict if Hillary does come in third in the Hawkeye Cauci, what we’re going to then hear from the Drive-Bys and other places is this, stories on Friday, probably in the process of being written right now: ‘Does Iowa really mean anything anymore?’ (laughing) You wait. Does Iowa really mean anything? (laughter)
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: In the Hawkeye Cauci, the news coming out of Iowa, I guess if you take a rolling average of all the polls, is that it’s just too close to call on the Democrat side. The Democrats are so close here. In a couple of polls, Obama is pulling away, which the Clinton camp will set up if they lose is, ‘Well, why is Iowa important anymore anyway?’ but, in some of the other polls, it’s very close for all three Democrats. You have Mr. and Mrs. Clinton, Mr. and Mrs. Obama with Mr. and Mrs. Edwards a close third in the Hawkeye Cauci. So now the headlines over the weekend were, ‘What if no one wins?’ And what they really mean is, ‘What if no one loses?’ and all the pundits are playing their guessing games. Who will win? But the question that really should be asked: ‘Will anybody lose?’ Even if Mrs. Clinton loses, will the media be permitted to call it a loss when her husband will explain it as a win? (Clinton impression) ‘Well, now, look, Hillary, all these polls going into this, Limbaugh, she’s coming in third place, and they end up in a dead heat. Why, I think that’s a big win for Hillary because she wasn’t even worried that much about it.’
Don’t give me that. You’re spending $200 a vote there! So the latest poll on the Democrat side has Mr. and Mrs. Clinton trailing Mr. and Mrs. Obama, with Mr. and Mrs. Edwards a close third — and we are told by the smartest pundits that the Democrat race in Iowa is so close, because the three leading candidates are so strong. Well, somebody has to ask — and it’s always left to me to ask the right question — could it be so close because they’re so weak? Could it be so close because none of them are inspiring any of the voters for a big front-runner lead? Look, they’ve got the money. Mrs. Clinton and Obama have raised over a hundred million dollars. They’ve got the media behind them; they have the quote ‘enthusiasm.’ But not one of them has a solid majority. How long was I away from you and the Golden EIB Microphone? A little over a week, right? Seven working days, and in that period of time, since I, ladies and gentlemen, have been away, Mrs. Clinton went from ‘Hillary the Experienced and Bill Clinton’s Wife,’ to ‘Hillary the Likable and Bill Clinton’s Wife,’ to ‘Hillary the Agent of Change and Bill Clinton’s Wife,’ and then back to ‘Hillary the Experienced and Bill Clinton’s Wife.’
At least the Breck Girl has been consistent. He started out as a Depression-era populist, and he’s ending as one. This campaign of his… He’s out there and he is filled with hate. He is filled with absolute rage. Of course, those kinds of extremists are the people that show up in the Hawkeye Cauci, on both sides. What did Obama do the week-plus that I was away? Well, the best we can say about Obama is that he gained another week of needed experience (laughing) in government. He also said, by the way — Obama said — he can’t reach me. He’s trying to be the big agent of change, but he can’t reach people like me. He used to be in radio, but he can’t reach me, meaning he’s not going to change my vote. He says, ‘Rush Limbaugh is never going to vote for me, so…’ I’ll have that story, too, coming up in the stack. Oh, yeah, we’re loaded today. (interruption) He brought it up himself. If you just wait patiently, Mr. Snerdley, I will get to it. In broadcasting what I just did was a ‘tease.’ (laughing) Sit tight, folks, and all will be revealed in due course.