Obama Rallies Idaho Crowd

Barack Obama assured Western voters Saturday he believes in Jesus as well as the rights of gun owners. The size of the crowd and his mention of God were notable in Idaho, one of the smaller prizes among the 22 states holding Democratic presidential campaign contests on Super Tuesday. Idaho's caucuses offer 18 Democratic delegates to the national convention.

Obama warned people about hoax e-mails they may get saying he's secretly a Muslim who might want to destroy the United States, and urged those at the rally not to believe everything they hear about him.

"I've been going to the same church for 20 years, praising Jesus," the Illinois senator told more than 10,000 people packed into Boise State's basketball arena. He is a member of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

"We've heard the usual sort of smear campaigns. I don't know if they've trickled up to Iowa," Obama said to laughter from the crowed, then quickly corrected himself. "Idaho. I know they were in Iowa."They send out these e-mails saying, `You know Obama, he's a Muslim and he doesn't pledge allegiance to the flag,'" he said. "Don't try to just insult not just me but people of the Islamic faith by playing on people's fears. I know who I am."

And then there are people who say, `Well, he doesn't believe in the Second Amendment,' even though I come from a state _ we've got a lot of hunters in downstate Illinois. And I have no intention of taking away folks' guns."

Obama does support gun control and has a record of voting for it in the Illinois Senate. He backed limiting handgun purchases to one a month, but he made no attempts to ban them. Today, he stands by his support for controls while trying to reassure hunters that he has no interest in interfering with their access to firearms.

How Does the Iowa Caucus Work?

This is a nice little video from Why Tuesday? that explains the workings of the Iowa caucus system. If you’ve ever wondered what the heck the Iowa caucus is really all about, and are into animated stick figures, this video will really hit the spot:

Advice for Iowans

John the farmer was in the fertilized egg business. He had several hundred young hundred young layers (hens), called 'pullets', and ten roosters, whose job it was to fertilize the eggs.

The farmer kept records and any rooster that didn't perform went into the soup pot and was replaced. That took an awful lot of his time, so he bought a set of tiny bells and attached them to his roosters. Each bell had a different tone so John could tell from a distance, which rooster was performing. Now he could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report simply by listening to the bells.

The farmer's favorite rooster was old Butch, a very fine specimen he was, too. But on this particular morning John noticed old Butch's bell hadn't rung at all! John went to investigate. The other roosters were chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing. The pullets, hearing the roosters coming , would run for cover.

But to Farmer John's amazement, old Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn't ring. He'd sneak up on a pullet, do his job and walk on to the next one. John was so proud of the old Butch, he entered him in the Renfrew County Fair and he became an overnight sensation among the judges.

The result...The judges not only awarded old Butch the No Bell Piece Prize, but they also awarded him the Pulletsurprise as well.

Clearly old Butch was a politician in the making: who else but a politician could figure out how to win two of the most highly coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the populace and screwing them when they weren't paying attention.

VOTE CAREFULLY. . . the bells are not always audible . . . . . .