"Caucus" sounds like the phlegmmy byproduct of a bad cold

I've been listening non-stop to NPR's coverage of the Iowa caucuses last night and all day today. For the first time in my life, I am completely fascinated by this nation's electoral process, and I'm excited to watch it progress over the course of the next eleven months. And I have a completely neutral though somewhat humorous observation to make about news coverage of yesterday's caucus.

I think that the media is underplaying the Chuck Norris factor in Huckabee's campaign. I've not done a detailed tabulation of the poll numbers myself, but colloquially speaking, I recall Huckabee as having advanced dramatically from nobody candidate to top contender beginning with the release of his 'Huck-Chuck Facts' ad spots. And while there is mention in the news of Chuck Norris' celebrity endorsement of Huckabee, there is a widespread lack of acknowledgment of the true impact of Chuck's fame on Huckabee's campaign. I hear talk of how personable, how charismatic he is in comparison to the other candidates, and how his background as a Baptist Minister provides the necessary religious sympathy to win the Republican base, but something is missing in the analysis.

According to Rock the Caucus, "among 17-29 year old Republicans, 40% supported the winner, Mike Huckabee" in the Iowa caucus, vs the 34% of the total vote he actually secured in that state. NPR shows 18-29 year olds making up roughly 12% of the total body of voting Republicans, but that 40% of 12% accounts for 5 of Huckabee's 34 percentage points. Perhaps not a huge margin, but not a small one either.

To the point: Chuck Norris is an absurdly famous internet meme. Do a Google search for Chuck Norris and the first link is NOT the Walker, Texas Ranger star's own website, but is the Chuck Norris Facts site, filled with the same sort of ridiculous statements that Huckabee recited in his famous advertisement. Chuck Norris has held this sort of widespread internet fame for at LEAST two years in my memory, which has included many an email from coworkers-who-should-be-working with gems like this. I know the Internet knows about Chuck Norris' widespread mocking fame (not unlike David Hasselhoff), but the major media outlets seem to be neglecting to mention Chuck Norris as anything more than just an average celebrity endorsement. And while Huckabee may very well have legs to stand on in his party beyond his fame-by-association, I am convinced that he would not have done nearly so well were it not for those early ad spots that turned him from a nobody into a man who plans to secure the border with "two words: Chuck Norris."