Looking in at Iowa

More details available from Strategic Vision

Huckabee 27%, Romney 24%, Giuliani 13%
Obama 32%, Clinton 25%, Edwards 25%

From New York Times Politics blog:

… even though Mr. Grassley has decided — for the first time apparently — not to endorse anyone in the Republican caucuses, that didn’t stop him today from offering up his predictions: Senator Barack Obama of Illinois for the Democrats and former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts for the Republicans. 

Mr. Grassley says he expects former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York to finish second and third on the Republican side. He offered up his assessments during a conference call with Iowa reporters, while suggesting that Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York could finish third behind former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina.  …

From Wall Street Journal blog:

“My toys are coming from Iowa,” Dodd said, appealing to the local audience. Dodd recently said that his daughter Gracie raised bigger Christmas concerns after he moved his family to Iowa for the Jan. 3 caucuses. …

A quick check of the Bureau of Labor Statistics records turns up 10 small toymakers in Iowa, Gresser says. Together they employ 113 people. “Careful the campaigns don’t swamp them with orders. Sports equipment might be better,” he said. “Iowa has 31 businesses with over a thousand employees. And the U.S. remains a pretty big producer of bats, balls, gloves, etc.”

From today’s Boston Globe:

Mitt Romney’s campaign, which was hit last month by negative phone calls in New Hampshire and Iowa, asked the Iowa attorney general yesterday to investigate whether a new set of phone calls made by a group promoting Republican rival Mike Huckabee violated state law.

In a letter to Attorney General Tom Miller, the Romney campaign said the calls to Iowa voters from Delaware-based Common Sense Issues Inc. appeared to violate the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, which requires political callers to disclose their identity or face a fine of $500 per call.

Bob Brammer, a spokesman for Miller, said the attorney general would review it. …

Zogby release page here:

Clinton 27%, Obama 24%, Edwards 21%
Romney 26%, Huckabee 25%, Giuliani 12%

Likely Iowa caucus–goers interviewed Nov. 29–Dec. 1; margin of error +/– 4.4 percentage points

From Richard Ryman column in the Green Bay Press-Gazette:

Foth acquires Iowa firm

Engineering and consulting firm Foth recently acquired Engineering Alliance Inc., a 27-employee transportation and civil engineering company in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. …