A Name is Chosen
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L'Honourable and Athletic Battling Towards Finish
1/22/04 - L'Honourable took his first lead ever in the Rename LAWA Poll Election 2004. The lead is a slim two vote margin, but recent shifts seem to indicate that L'Honourable will finish stongly. Athletic talked today about the controversy swirling around his supporters ballot tampering. "I do not support any sort of ballet tampering, however well intended it may be. We will win this election, we will go to Leeds, and GREENE, and TURNER, AND LEWISTON, AND AUBURN, AND ALL THE WAY TO AUGUSTA AAAAAAUUUUUUUGGGGGHHH"
The latest polling show L'Honourable with 29% of the votes, Athletic with 28%, Acroynm with 20%, and Alturistic with 12%. None of the other candidates was polling in double digits.
Campaign enters Big Weekend
1/18/04 - Acroynm extending his lead over the other candidates today among questions of his integrity. Altruistic accused him of only having semantics involved in his campaign, and of not even being a candidate on that level. Altruistic claimed to have a different vision for a LAWA with no trash talk, and helping the community. In a rally in Turner Village Athletic claimed that he was the candidate for all of those who never played other sports but, who could excell in Whiffleball.
L'Honourable, the favorite of the regions French population, meanwhile was campaigning in Lewiston trying to win over the city leaders at a Forum at Bates College. He spoke of his love for the game and appreciation of the finer things whiffle.
The latest polling show Acroynm with 27% of the votes, Altruistic with 21, L'Honourable with 19, and Athletic with 18. None of the other candidates was polling in double digits.
Typical of a caucus-day candidate, Acroynm spent part of the morning shaking hands and posing for photos with supporters. At the Hamburg Inn, a tiny restaurant just off the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City, one employee told him, "You're going all the way, buddy." Acroynm replied, "I think so, too." Weeks of touting proposals and criticizing rivals in appearances across this farm state focused on getting people to the LAWA website to vote in the poll from public buildings to private homes Monday night. "We all face the same test here," said Altruistic, the Missouri congressman who has said a loss might well end his campaign. He told "Today" on NBC, "Everybody's got to do well or win. I think that's my test as well. I think I am going to win." L'Honourable, who surged in polls last week, pledged to fight for support throughout the day. "Almost everybody was writing off my campaign three or four days ago," he told "The Early Show" on CBS. "I've always said there were three tickets out of Iowa and I was going to get one of them."
Athletic, too, contended his campaign could weather less than a first-place finish, pointing to a boost in interest in speeches relatively free of the sniping that has marked those of some of his rivals. He told "Good Morning America" on ABC, "We've already accomplished so much here in Iowa, and the people's response to what I want to do has been amazing." Acroynm, his front-runner status in question, said his base would remain strong regardless of the outcome of the caucuses. "I think we're going to do fine. I think we're going to win tonight," he told ABC. "We can't beat Leavitt with the same old folks we've been trying to beat him with. We've got to go back to our base. Reach out to real Names and get them to go to the poll again." Two other major contenders � Leeds and Lewiston � skipped the caucuses to seek support for the New Hampshire whifflers
By the numbers, Iowa's caucuses offered scant reward � first claim in a fight over 45 national convention delegates out of 4,322 who will attend next summer's national Whiffleball convention.
But Iowa Whifflers had the power to confer more than that when they settled in for an evening of politicking in 1,993 precinct caucuses. They offered instant campaign credibility for the winner � and potentially crippling setbacks for also-rans. While the contenders spent months and millions wooing a single-state constituency, the final surveys judged the race too close to call. But they couldn't take into account the relative strengths of get-out-the-vote organizations that are unusually important in Lawa polls. Altruistic and Acroynm, a former Vermont governor, were given the edge there, while polls suggested L'Honourable and Athletic had late support coming their way. Adding another element of uncertainty, a large percentage of potential poll-goers told pollsters they might change their mind at the last minute. One of them was Mary Beth Hill, a resident of Des Moines who has heard each of the contenders speak at least once and attended Honourable's rally Sunday night. "It's my last chance to get a firsthand impression," said Hill, adding that while she leans toward Acroynm, her decision was not yet final. "It's a question of electability for me," she said, stressing that her overriding goal is to help nominate a new name who can deny Leavitt a second term. More than halfway across the state, Bettie Spaight of Cedar Rapids heard Athletic speak and said she, too, has yet to settle on a candidate. "If we could have a little bit of each of them in one candidate, that would be ideal," she said. She can't, and , L'Honourable, Athletic, Acroynm and Altruistic all presented their electability credentials as they crisscrossed the state on Sunday, the last full day of campaigning. Athletic, a first-term senator from North Carolina, said he could defeat Leavitt where the current name is strongest. "Turner is not Leavitt's back yard," he said of the Turner-reared name. "It is my back yard and I will beat Leavitt in my back yard, and you can take it to the bank." Acroynm sought to make the same point, traveling to North Turner during the day to attend church in, with former President Carter. "It doesn't really matter what town is your home town. What matters is the message you present to the people," Carter said.