1. The BIG winner was Mike Huckabee. Huckabee is a very adroit public speaker. He communcates his message in life-like, cogent terms, with compelling examples like the story he told (at the Ames Straw Poll) of what his then-11-yo daughter entered into the “Comments” section of a Visitors Book after visiting the Yad Vashem holocaust museum: “Couldn’t somebody do something?”

   Effective.

   Huckabee puts listeners at ease, and reassures them through clear concepts and a natural, integrated manner of communication (no doubt something well-cultivated as a pastor). He’s not demanding, like a Ron Paul, nor is he as “well-scripted” as Romney, nor as mechanical-squinty like Brownback.

   Most importantly, Huckabee convinces many that he is ONE with the FairTax grassroots movement (5). While many – like Romney, and others, who are invested in the current income tax system – seek to demagog (1) the well-researched FairTax plan, its acceptance in the professional / academic community (2) continues to grow. Failure to enact the FairTax – choosing instead to try to “flatten” a NON-FLATTENABLE income tax system – will result in an irrevocable economic meltdown (3)!

   Just take a look at the WEAK response Romney followed Huckabee with on last weekend’s “This Week with Geo. Stephanopoulos (4)”

   Here is why the FairTax MUST replace the income tax. It’s:

   • SIMPLE, easy to understand
   • EFFICIENT, inexpensive to comply with and doesn’t cause less-than-optimal business decisions for tax minimization purposes
   • FAIR, loophole free and everyone pays their share
   • LOW TAX RATE, achieved by broad base with no exclusions
   • PREDICTABLE, doesn’t change, so financial planning is possible
   • UNINTRUSIVE, doesn’t intrude into our personal affairs or limit our liberty
   • VISIBLE, not hidden from the public in tax-inflated prices or otherwise
   • PRODUCTIVE, rewards, rather than penalizes, work and productivity

   Its benefits are as follows:

   FOR INDIVIDUALS:
   • No more tax on income – make as much as you wish
   • You receive your full paycheck – no more deductions
   • You pay the tax when you buy “at retail” – not “used”
   • No more double taxation (e.g. like on current Capital Gains)
   • Reduction of “pre-FairTaxed” retail prices by 20%-30%
   • Adding back 29.9% FairTax maintains current price levels
   • FairTax would constitute 23% portion of new prices
   • Every household receives a monthly check, or “pre-bate”
   • “Prebate” is “advance payback” for monthly consumption to poverty level
   • FairTax’s “prebate” ensures progressivity, poverty protection
   • Finally, citizens are knowledgeable of what their tax IS
   • Elimination of “parasitic” Income Tax industry
   • NO MORE IRS. NO MORE FILING OF TAX RETURNS by individuals
   • Those possessing illicit forms of income will ALSO pay the FairTax
   • Households have more disposable income to purchase goods
   • Savings is bolstered with reduction of interest rates

   FOR BUSINESSES:
   • Corporate income and payroll taxes revoked under FairTax
   • Business compensated for collecting tax at “cash register”
   • No more tax-related lawyers, lobbyists on company payrolls
   • No more embedded (hidden) income/payroll taxes in prices
   • Reduced costs. Competition – not tax policy – drives prices
   • Off-shore “tax haven” headquarters can now return to U.S
   • No more “favors” from politicians at expense of taxpayers
   • Resources go to R&D and study of competition – not taxes
   • Marketplace distortions eliminated for fair competition
   • US exports increase their share of foreign markets

   FOR THE COUNTRY:
   • 7% – 13% economic growth projected in the first year of the FairTax
   • Jobs return to the U.S.
   • Foreign corporations “set up shop” in the U.S.
   • Tax system trends are corrected to “enlarge the pie”
   • Larger economic “pie,” means thinner tax rate “slices”
   • Initial 23% portion of price is pressured downward as “pie”
   increases
   • No more “closed door” tax deals by politicians and business
   • FairTax sets new global standard. Other countries will follow

   (1) http://snipurl.com/taxpanelrebutted
   (2) http://snipurl.com/econsopenletter
   (3) http://snipurl.com/meltdowninprogress
   (4) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW4fa6Z_4Po
   (5) http://snipr.com/scrapthecode

2. Illinois is also holding a Republican straw poll on August 16 at the state fair in Springfield. All eligible Illinois voters are allowed to participate and there is no fee. All eligible Illinois voters must present an Illinois Driver’s License or State photo ID card to participate. I encourage all Ron Paul supporters in Illinois to go to the fair and vote!

   Source: http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2007/07/sweet_blog_scoop_illinois_gop_1.html

   The Texas straw poll is September 1. I encourage all Ron Paul supporters to help out with this poll.

   Here are the results for the Iowa straw poll:

   Mitt Romney: 4,516 / 31.5%

   Mike Huckabee: 2,587 / 18.1%

   Sam Brownback: 2,192 / 15.3%

   Tom Tancredo: 1,961 / 13.7%

   Ron Paul: 1,305 / 9.1%

   Tommy Thompson: 1,039 / 7.3%

   Fred Thompson: 203 / 1.4%

   Rudy Giuliani: 183 / 1.3%

   Duncan Hunter: 174 / 1.2%

   John McCain: 101 / 1.0%

   John Cox: 41 / .1%

   14,302 Total Votes

   26,000 Total Tickets Sold

   Source: Cyclone Conservatives

   Visit my site, http://www.thirdpartynews.net for all the latest Ron Paul 2008 news & American third party politics news & information.

3. Semantic note: while TICKETS were $35, very few voters actually PAID that sum out of their own pockets. As in past years, the vast majority of tickets were purchased by the presidential campaigns, who then distributed them free to supporters. Some of the campaigns also bused their supporters to Ames.

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