Cameron Gibbs

via thedailywh.at

I have been following the GOP primaries like never before. I have watched every debate (there’s been 6 or 7 I think) and have been reading about them every day. The main reason I’m following so closely this time around is because I’m a big supporter of Mitt Romney.

I have been really impressed with how well Romney has done considering his lack of name-recognition. He’s pretty far back in the national polls, but the party nominees aren’t decided by a national vote, but are done state by state over time (up until Super Tuesday, when more than 20 states will pick a nominee for each party).

Romney is a smart person and has showed his intelligence and capabilities by focusing on the first two states to vote, Iowa and New Hampshire. Yesterday, CNN reported the most recent poll in Iowa put Romney 23 points ahead of the next contender, Giuliani. That is simply remarkable. The same story also mentions Judd Gregg, a 3-term NH Senator and former NH Governer, endorsing Romney. In NH, Romney’s lead isn’t as large, close to 10 points, but it’s large enough that it won’t be easy for another candidate to take the lead. After New Hampshire, its Michigan, where Romney will likely win, and then South Carolina where he’s in second place.

Opponents say that Romney’s leading in those early states because he has poured so much money in advertising in them. Well, imagine the return that investment is going to give him when he gets all that free press after winning the early states before Super Tuesday… probably millions upon millions of dollars worth (my SEO readers understand this concept — how investing in paid advertising can result in a lot of free or “organic” advertising). Also, to dispute his opponents, you can’t lead the polls just because you’ve advertised, you also have to have to have a good “product”, have a good “offer”, and you have to target the right people (think 40/40/20 rule).

Yesterday, Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard, published an article on how the Republican race is most-likely a two-man race between Romney (who leads in the early states) and Giuliani (who leads in the national polls). The article paints the two most likely scenarios, though also recognizing that anything could happen between now and Jan 3rd. Either Romney or Giuliani.

One thing that the article doesn’t mention is Romney’s inevitable “Mormon speech.” Many evangelicals that back Romney want him to give a speech similar to JFK’s where he said that he wouldn’t take orders from the Pope. Romney hasn’t ever said that he’s going to do it but it he probably will. Yesterday when he was interviewed by Sean Hannity, he said that “the time may come” for him to address his faith. I think he’ll do it, he just wants to time it right, either just before the Iowa caucus or just before the first southern state votes (South Carolina). That will give him even more free publicity just before Super Tuesday.

So I recently upgraded wordpress (again) and despite all the experience (upgrading and creating new blogs), it still takes me A LOT longer than what it should.

Both times I upgraded, I followed the instructions wordpress gives but I’ve found most of the tips a waste of time. I think it’s best (at least in the circumstances I’ve been in) to just completely deletd all of the files on the server (but not your databse, of course) and then upload the new wordpress files and then your plugins. After spending an hour or two trying to “upgrade” wordpress, I did this and the blog worked flawlessly. Oh yeah, and it took an enitre 3 minutes.

Heidi and I played monopoly tonight.  It was the first time I’ve played in several years… but I haven’t forgotten how to win. :) 

As you already know, Monopoly is a game of real estate… and the rules of real life real estate apply in the game.  It’s all about location… owning boardwalk and park place (as well as the green property on the same street) and putting hotels on them.  It may cost you quite a bit up front, but in the long run, you’ll rarely lose.

Today I was calling my brothers and sisters to try to convince them to move to utah.  Though I don’t think I’ve convinced any of them it got me thinking why Heidi and I are content with living in utah.  Here’s a few reasons…

• relatively low cost of housing (though house values have increased significantly over the last couple of years)
• low crime rate
• scenery (wasatch front) — I’ve come to love the view of the nearby mountains
• “greatest snow on earth” for you snowboarders and skiers
• good people — like everywhere else, you may run into a bad apple or two but most everyone seems friendly here
• cutting-edge technology — the local government does a good job of promoting/encouraging new technology such as fiber optic cable infrastructure (internet, cable, phone, etc) and both utah and the salt lake counties are full of hi-tech business.
• four seasons — to be honest, I’d rather have sunny weather all year long but since I like to snowboard and I don’t like to drive a long ways to a resort, something has to give.

Well, that’s all I can come up with now… for those of you that live in utah, what to you like/dislike about it?

Heidi and I just finised watching Wal-Mart, the High Cost of Low Prices. Though the “documentary” is obviously very biased and full of half-truths, I learned a few things and found it to be interesting. Though it makes a lot of claims that I don’t agree with, I recommend the movie to anyone.

I should also mention that I slept through much of it (it was late) but Heidi gave me a recap of everything I missed. Thanks honey.

I was once made fun of because I joked that I had drank two slimfasts and lost 3 lbs. Well, there’s actually a drink out ther that claims to have negative calories (you burn more than you consume by drinking it - between 60 and 100).

By my calculations, if you burn 100 calories drinking a 12-ounce can of Enviga, you only have to down 35 cans to lose a pound. Who’s laughing now? Ha, ha, ha.

Inspired by my dad, I’m subscribing to a “joke of the day” blog. I did a search and, from the little research I did, I’m gonna try www.jokeoftheday.com. The jokes I read so far were clean and funny so I think I’ll like it. If anyone knows of a better site, give out a shout… thanks.

Yesterday I got an email from a friend to support Mitt Romney as the Republican nominee for president in 2008 (he recently announced he’s going to run for the presidency). The email included this link to a video biography of Mr. Romney.

Since the presidential election is so far away and there are many issues yet to be debated among the candidates, I’m in no hurry to make up my mind as to who to I’ll be voting for in ‘08. However, since Mitt and I share the same religious beliefs, he can’t be all that bad, despite the fact that he’s a politician. Though I think his chances of winning the nomination, let alone the election, are quite slim, it’s fun to entertain the idea of a Mormon president.

Heidi and I just finished watching the Boise State - Oklahoma Fiesta Bowl game and though we aren’t fans of either teams, we were routing for BSU because being BYU fans, we like rooting for the underdog in big games. If you missed the last few minutes of regulation and overtime, you missed the best ending to a football game I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen BYU comeback in wild fashion time and time again).

Hats off to BSU, both the players and the coaching staff for calling and making such great, entertaining plays. It’s always inspiring to see a major underdog win!