SHAGGY DOG STORY. Perhaps because Midwestern conservative Republican activists don't read the East Coast dailies, blogs, or magazines as assiduously as their Democratic counterparts, the gobs of attention being devoted to Mitt Romney's treatment of his dog have had far less impact on conservatives out here in Iowa, where I have been since Saturday, than the John Edwards haircut story reportedly did among Democratic activists when it became a similar media obsession. I just spent two days following Romney around the state, and in dozens of interviews with potential caucus-goers at five different events, not a single person raised the issue of his dog, either in interviews with me or during the five public question and answer sessions with Romney. Indeed, after all my conversations, I think Romney was probably right to put this story out there. The sort of people he's working to reach are exactly the sort of crabby, cranky middle-class folk E.J. Dionne describes in his column today, and they will see that anecdote as a sign that Romney is a no-nonsense man of action who won't hesitate to cause pain if need be. This is, after all, the man who kept introducing his middle son Josh at events as "the short, ugly one" -- and the audiences that kept giving him big laughs for doing so. --Garance Franke-Ruta
