Name That Capitol

Back from a trip to one of our state Capitol's . . .

(Hint: It's in the timezone.) Guesses anyone?

Refreshed, and rarin' to go . . . So much to catch-up on . . . but here are some biggies:

*The Des Moines Register has endorsed Hillary Clinton and John McCain. The Boston Globe also gave McCain the nod. Once again, the media is McCain's base.

*Mike Huckabee continues to build leads . . . uh . . . Everywhere. But is the Baptist Minister the Howard Dean or Jimmy Carter of this cycle? Meanwhile, the hits keep coming on Huck. The latest scrutiny focuses on comments he made about a theology degree.

*Mitt Romney is not about to go down without swinging. He now is attacking Huckabee for "running from the wrong party." Romney's money does mean he has organization in Iowa, which means he still has a shot. Iowa is as much about hiring precinct captains and getting them to understand the system as it is about actual raw support. The conventional wisdom is that if Huckabee wins Iowa, it's a wide-open field . . . but if Romney is able to now come back and win it . . . he could march to the nomination.

*If I was forced to make predictions today, I'd say Huckabee would narrowly defeat Romney in Iowa and Obama would beat Clinton by 4 to 5 points. But predictions are hard. And all they do is get political reporters in trouble. Just ask weathermen. If the the polls leading up to caucus night are anything like the local winter storm forecasts for this week, we're in for some surprises. And, that's what makes it fun, right?

BTW: The answer is to the above question is . . . Austin.