I blogged the Ames debate live for WNYC, New York and I came away with the following observations.

First, the debate was way too long. In Operas you have an intermission and then resume the show – my dad always fell asleep in the second half. In debates ...

Most people know what the Iowa caucuses are - the “first-in-the-nation” event where delegates are selected to support a wannabe candidate for President of the United States.

But before the caucuses take place on a freezing, windy January evening, there is another event that’s been gaining a lot of buzz ...

All of our attention is focused on whom the Republicans will nominate to run for president of the United States against Barack Obama. While that is the simple way to approach what’s happening, the real story is that the United States is going through a serious “mega passage,” a “paradigm shift” if you prefer.

The night’s real stand-out was Michelle Bachmann, who took advantage of the debate spotlight to announce she is running for president. She clearly and surprisingly won the debate. Bachmann was energetic and has a way with words, making some of the other wannabes look limp. Her experience in Congress showed and made her more credible than her critics might want to admit, and certainly complicates things for Sarah Palin.

Ron Paul is running for president.

Paul has been coming to Iowa for many years and has visited numerous times this year alone. I’ve been to Paul events. Many of my college students love him for the same reason they loved Ronald Reagan and their grandpa. He simplifies things to the bare bones and he represents personal freedom. He’s also bona fide “Mr. Budget Cutter” so he jibes with fiscal conservatives of many stripes. Here are some of his strengths as he heads again for Iowa in chase of the elusive and valuable Iowa caucus victory.

A huge airplane with TRUMP splattered on the side landed in Des Moines Monday. The Donald was not on board. No doubt too busy yelling "You're Fired!" at some of his peeps. His right-hand-man was onboard, having arrived in Iowa to work the state for Trump and suck the oxygen out of a church-sponsored event for a bunch of actual Republican presidential wannabes.

Recently, I blogged at InsiderIowa.com about trouble in the Colorado Republican Party. I wrote that although the Tea Party mobilized Republicans at the base for the 2010 election and managed to create momentum sufficient to give the GOP a big victory, not all is well in elephant land. Colorado could be a lesson, and a warning for Iowa’s first in the nation test for 2012.

Saying he's "tired of the nuts who have no grasp of what the state party's role is," Colorado Republican Chairman Dick Wadhams won't run for re-election. He warned that if the Tea Party continues to high-jack the larger Republican agenda and veers more sharply to the right, the GOP stands a good chance of losing Colorado's "large unaffiliated voter base."