In December 2011, the candidate who led in the Iowa polls was not Rick Santorum (who ultimately squeaked out a victory there), nor Michelle Bachmann (who had driven Gov. Tim Pawlenty from the race by winning the Iowa straw poll earlier in the year), nor Mitt Romney. No, the leader was Ron Paul, with 23 percent.
Public Policy Polling provided this analysis in mid-December:
The image of a driverless runaway train provides the perfect visual metaphor for the endless travails of the MBTA, especially following the snowbound debacle of last winter.
But the runaway train is not just a metaphor or a figure of speech. It actually happened.
