Kevin McCullough is the nationally syndicated host of The Kevin McCullough Show & Baldwin/McCullough Radio, and a blogger at Townhall. He joined The Matt Friedeman Show to discuss . Below are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.
Do you have predictions for Iowa?
I don't know if anyone's paying attention, but Ron Paul has now taken the lead in six different polls.
I think there's some real trouble to the Republican establishment there.
If Ron Paul ends up winning Iowa, it could really throw the race into a tailspin.
There's so many people that I have talked to in the primary states that say his foreign policy stance is so off-the-wall that he'll never chance. But Romney can't seem to get more than 22%.
If we don't see a leader come forward, Ron Paul might actually be the guy who is looked to as the non-Romney.
What's your take on Virginia's ballot?
Rick Perry's group is saying that Virginia changed the rules on them and didn't notify them. But in reality, you cannot expect to run a successful campaign if you don't pay attention to things like this.
Gingrich especially should know how important this is at the federal level.
What I want to know is that if someone who is not Mitt Romney wins Iowa and South Carolina, is Virginia really going to ban them?
Is there any possibility that someone like Bobby Jindal or Chris Christie could jump in?
I don't know if that's as much of a possibility, because you'd have to drum up an entire campaign staff and crew.
What I'm wondering is if we will see something like a brokered convention if this continues to splinter and be the fractured process that we've seen thus far
I think we've had too many debates. Romney has his core support, but no one else has anything sewn up.
And if, say, Bachmann wins Iowa, Paul wins South Carolina, and someone else wins Florida, and we get to the end and no one has secured the nomination, we might see something like a brokered convention.
Kevin McCullough is the nationally syndicated host of "The Kevin McCullough Show" & "Baldwin/McCullough Radio". His newest book, "No He Can't", is available here.
What did we learn from the Iowa Straw Poll?
I think one thing we learned is that the Republican voters are looking for people who really embrace some libertarian, small government, socially conservative viewpoints.
I think that you're going to see a big three-way contest with Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina between Mitt Romney, Rick Perry, and Michelle Bachmann.
What do you think about Pawlenty dropping out of the race?
I think Pawlenty did the right thing.
It's very hard to dig into a credit card to pay for a campaign when you're running that campaign on trying to balance the national economy.
I think he'll be a very good ally to whoever gets the Republican nomination.
Is there going to be anything in Rick Perry's background that could sink his campaign ship?
I don't know his background all that well.
I suspect, of course, that people will come forward with crazy stories about all kinds of stuff.
What really matters isn't who he used to be, it's about who he is now.
One thing Gov. Perry has going for him is that he recognizes that the job issue really is the biggest problem.
Obama's approval rating is at 39 right now. Will it go up or down?
I think it could fluctuate either way, depending on what happens.
This bus tour that he's on is costing millions of dollars that taxpayers are paying.
Fixing the recession and creating jobs has not been a priority for this current administration.
What are your thoughts on Bachmann getting all the religious questions?
I have a lot of respect for Byron York. I think he's one of the best minds in conservative writing.
But I thought that his question to Michelle Bachmann was one of the lowest points I've ever seen in a presidential debate.
It don't think it was right that it was asked to her at all.
To single her out in that way was really beneath what Fox News and Byron have always been about.
Kevin McCullough is the nationally syndicated host of "The Kevin McCullough Show" & "Baldwin/McCullough Radio". His new book "No He Can't" comes out in March.
Reaction to Obama's budget.
This budget is, well, I don't think it's going to be passed...before it even comes up for debate.
It's like pulling up to an all-you-can-eat buffet and filling up the pick-up truck.
If I had the ear of McConnell and Boehner, I'd tell them to not play the games.
The road leads right off the cliff. The problem is Rep. Paul Ryan is about ten yards ahead of everyone and can see what's coming.
CPAC?
I was there for the most part up-close and personal.
I was more disillusioned about this year's CPAC than any other political event I've been at.
Libertarians are in some ways the worst form of politics in America, because they take the economic desire to make money from the Right and they take the lifestyles of the Left.
In the end they want a society that looks like anarchy instead of the God-based society we need.
The idea that CPAC should've let the libertarians in the past few years is a bad idea.
You've got three people who cannot win the election taking the first three places in the straw poll, for instance.
Ann Coulter saying Christie has to be the GOP nominee.
My hope there is one other person who can do it.
I want Governor Huckabee to run.
I'm going to see who plays out at the end of the day. Obviously Sarah Palin's going to play a huge role in how the party votes. And if she is the nominee, compared to Obama, I'd vote for her.
I don't like Romney...Only Republican elites are lining up for him.
Chris Christie is very popular in this region. He's done some amazing stuff standing up to the teacher's unions, but he's not going to get the nomination, because he's not interested in running.
The toughest fight for Governor Huckabee would be the nomination.
The thing about Huck is that he's the only candidate who I think knows how to battle Obama's psychology.
Human trafficking and Planned Parenthood
The Lila Rose videos that came out...painted a very disturbing picture of what our tax dollars are going for (Planned Parenthood).
Now we are..involved in aiding and abetting sex traffickers.
We must defund Planned Parenthood and we must defund them now.
There's no reason we should have an association with an organization that's looking the other way on sexual trafficking.
Are you as positive about the future of the country as Reagan could be?
Mike Huckabee wrote the new foreword for my book and said that it was the most positive book he had read about our scenario.
As long as we leave the American people in charge, the future will be good.
