The cattle are lowing

Will Rogers used to say he wasn't a member of any organized party, he was a Democrat. Looks like the Republicans have caught up.

So the beauty contestants bus in their claques to Ames, Iowa, where they cast unsupervised votes for their favorite Republican. Harmless enough fun.

But then Pawlenty drops out because he did not finish higher than third.

First, what is he thinking? How many candidates have finished second in real primary votes and then gone on to win the party nomination? Quite a few.

Second, what are the Republicans thinking? Is this any way to figure out who is the electable, still less the superior possibility?

Does anybody in the Republican Party think the straw poll voters are even approximately representative of widespread Republican opinion? When Ron Paul finishes a very close second?