Black Box Report

Fewer scenes say "classic Americana" than the 4th of July in the nation's heartland. Watching small town parades from your flag-draped porch, wafting aromas of hot dogs on the grill and apple pies cooling on the sill. Of course, this being a campaign year on a day like that in Iowa, you can't throw a rock without hitting three or four presidential candidates. And so it was no surprise that Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney, spouses in tow, bumped into each other, and small talk platitudes flowed like soda from the fountain:

Apparently even the weather was too controversial to talk about, given global warming as an issue. The only thing political seemed to be the good byes, when each candidate seemed to implicitly declare they would win the nomination they are seeking...

"We'll see you guys some more," Mitt Romney said. "Yes, you will," Sen. Clinton quickly shot back.

For snappy comebacks, I'm afraid I can only give that a 3.0. She'll have to do better. And speaking of doing better, Barack Obama made his way around the Hawkeye state, and he could hardly ask for a more accepting crowd:

Fairfax Iowa, the home for Transcendental Meditators, let by the once famed Maharish Maresh Yogi, was home to a campaign stop by the vitalic Obama, and as has become a common story, the thousand plus in attendance were captivated by the Senator's speech.

Granted, that's not saying much as they're also easily captivated by geodesic domes and aromatherapy. But not everyone was in Iowa. Duncan Hunter and Bill Richardson took advantage of the Iowa gridlock to have NH to themselves. As for some others...:

A few of the candidates decided to be elsewhere. John Edwards was one, but he's been in the state so many times, he's probably met every single resident already. Except the local hair stylists. Rudy Giuliani was a no-show. For him, Iowa is somewhere west of New York City.

"Except the local hairstylists." Ha Ha Ha! Ohhh, dear...It's funny because it's irrelevant.

And then there's John McCain, whose campaign is on the rocks and hemorrhaging money. Conventional wisdom is that he absolutely needs a strong showing in Iowa. So where was the Maverick?

John McCain headed to Iraq - maybe he thought he stands a better chance of getting elected there?

Could be. It's not like Iraq exactly has an illegal immigration problem. People there are trying to get out, not in.