Welcome back to reality! We all dispersed across the country this weekend, having some fun times with friends and family. We hope you did too.
Let’s dig into what we’re covering today with guest host Matt Miller. (Please say hi to on Twitter @MattMillerNow, as he’ll be here all week holding down the fort.
First, we’ll be talking about The Countdown to Iowa. Joining us today, Michael Hirsh, Chief National Correspondent at The National Journal. He has an excellent blog, Informing the 99%, which you should check out. Also on stack is Anna Palmer, the money and politics reporter from Politico. The Iowa caucuses are next Tuesday, officially kicking off primary season. There’s a clear lack of a front-runner in the GOP field — could we be looking at a primary season that lasts into June? The top three in Iowa, according to latest Gallup poll: Gingrich (26%), Romney (23%), Paul (11%). Right now, the analysis is that a Gingrich win in Iowa could mean a long primary season
Also on deck for discussion: Why is the nation glued to Iowa? The size of a city representing the views of all of America and setting the stage for the entire primary season? Is it just example of our flawed electoral system?
Here’s another example, from NBC’s First Read today:
Here are the latest ad-spending totals for Iowa: Perry $4.4 million, Restore Our Future PAC (pro-Romney) $2.8 million, Ron Paul: $2.3 million, Make Us Great Again PAC (pro-Perry): $1.6 million, Romney $1.1 million, Gingrich $475,000, Citizens for a Working America (pro-Romney) $461,000, Red White and Blue Fund (pro-Santorum) $329,000, Citizens United (pro-Gingrich) $196,000, and Bachmann $166,000 (but hasn’t spent since August).
$10 million in advertising in Iowa this month alone. Who will win the auction? More reason to get money out of politics.
On today’s Megapanel: Karen Finney will join us from DC, and Susan Del Percio and Jimmy Williams will be at 30 Rock. First up, a troubling stat: between 1984 and 2009, the median net worth of a member of the House more than doubled, according to a Washington Post analysis, which is worth a read here. Also, will the President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, be allowed to enter the United States for “medical treatment?” The White House has denied it, but the New York Times is reporting that the US has agreed in principle to allow Saleh in, subject to certain assurances – citing administration officials.
Our Specialist today: A book we’re currently obsessed with — we’ll be talking Robert Hurley, author of “The Decision to Trust: How Leaders Create High-Trust Organizations.” Globally, there has been a decline in trust over the past few decades, and only a third of Americans believe they can trust the government, big business, and large institutions. We’ll talk about cynicism and distrust creates many problems, and why it is almost impossible to manage an organization well if its people do not trust one another.
And for our Quick Block: Are Aliens on the moon? Scientists need OUR help to find out! American scientists want to enlist online volunteers to identify signs of alien life in moon images collected by NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO). Physicists Paul Davies and Robert Wagner of Arizona State University believe there may be signs of extra terrestrial life in the form of messages, scientific instruments, waste or evidence of mining that could be spotted by human telescopes and orbiting spacecraft.
That and more coming up at 4PM! As always, let us know your thoughts — Tweet @DylanRatigan (which we’re checking while he’s on vacation) or email us at dylan@dylanratigan.com.