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Friday, January 4, 2008

Thune's Political Clout in NW Iowa Quantified

Perry Groten posts a story on KELO titled "Thune's Political Clout in NW Iowa." Senator John Thune stopped in Rock Rapids, in Lyon County, the Iowa county closest to Sioux Falls, to stump for Senator John McCain.

Even though Thune doesn't represent any of the caucus voters in Iowa, his endorsement of McCain carries weight across the state line. Norma Jansma of Rock Rapids said, "Senator Thune has a very good reputation in this area, he's a South Dakota boy, so I think it helps." [Groten, 2007.01.03].

So how much did it help? Let's check the really cool interactive map at the Des Moines Register, which breaks down caucus results by county:

County Top 3 Finishers County Top 3 Finishers
Lyon Huckabee 42% Clay Huckabee 36.8%
McCain 22.2% Romney 20.2%
Romney 19.8% Thompson 17.3%
Sioux Huckabee 52.9% Buena Vista Huckabee 32.5%
McCain 15.7% Romney 22.6%
Romney 14% Thompson 21%
O'Brien Huckabee 55.7% Cherokee Huckabee 32.5%
Romney 13.8% Romney 26.9%
Thompson 12.5% McCain 15.6%
Osceola Huckabee 30.6% Plymouth Romney 33.9%
Paul 25.9% Huckabee 24.8%
Romney 20.4% McCain 16.4%
Dickinson Huckabee 26.3% data compiled from
Des Moines Register
interactive map 2007.01.04

McCain 25.5%
Romney 23.7%

One could argue McCain outpaced Thompson in NW Iowa, better than his statewide third-place tie with Thompson. But even Thune's fundagelical credentials couldn't swing those Huckabee voters away from their man. (And the moment I type that, I hear Mara Liasson on NPR say that Huckabee did well among all groups of Iowa Republicans, not just the hyperreligious.) If we're talking clout, PP might have swung as many Iowa voters toward Thompson as Thune did toward McCain (let's see those site stats, PP, and count up Iowa readers!).

The Madville Times welcomes your interpretations of the data. We also welcome anyone who an explain Ron Paul's outstanding performance in Sibley and the rest of Osceola County.

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