Title: There is a suspension of food-consumption rules at events like political rallies, state fairs, baseball games, and any time your wife is one or more time zones away.

* Why has this straw poll … This is at bottom, a fund raising event for the Republican Party of Iowa. If the candidates drag in 12,000 people and have to pay 25 bucks a piece, that's $300,000 in cash to the Party. Add to that the fees paid by the campaigns for their tent space, the additional donations from new members of the Iowa GOP, attracted by the excitement, and this could be a million-dollar idea.

* … their stuff piled on top like the Joad family … From the "Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck. The movie version starred a young Henry Fonda.

* I am personally hoping Warren Beatty shows up … Beatty announced the other day he is considering getting into the race for President. An actor as President. Who would be the Secretary of the Treasury, Jack Benny?