Last night Fred Thompson skipped the Fox News candidate debate in New Hampshire in order to finally announce his presidential run on Jay Leno's show. And today we learn, via Garance Franke-Ruta, that word's getting around Iowa about a blog post penned last month for The Hill last month by the deputy communications director for Fred's campaign, suggesting that the state's first-in-the-nation caucuses were, well, basically unpatriotic.

With the subtle title "Put America First: Make Iowa Go Last," Karen Hanratty accurately says Iowa's political power has helped preserve federal ethanol subsidies. But she goes on to argue that money currently spent on these subsidies might better be used for infrastructure construction and repairs. Given the date of the post (August 10), it's pretty clear Hanratty is alluding to the Minnesota bridge disaster. So her message is really this: the Iowa Caucuses Kill.

Hanratty wasn't officially aboard the Big Fred Machine when she wrote this toxic little love note to Iowans, but you have to wonder if it came up in her job interview. Here's guessing she won't be chowing down on corn dogs in Des Moines any time soon.