We’ll learn the answer to that question tonight, after the last voters cast their ballots and head out into the freezing temperatures and snow drifts.

The wintry weather across the state adds another complicating factor to today’s GOP Michigan Primary.

The Republican contest already faced the possibility of Democratic input that could skew the results. When Michigan decided to move up its primary date into January, the national parties meted out punishment. The Democratic Party was harsher, striping the state of all delegates to the national convention. In response, Barack Obama and John Edwards removed their names from the ballot, leaving Hillary Rodham Clinton with an easy win — but a meaningless one.

The Republican Party only took away half the GOP delegates, leaving 30 delegates to fight over. Unlike the Democratic candidates, the Republicans have a real battle going on in the state, with Sen. John McCain and Mitt Romney gaining the top two spots in most polls, and Mike Huckabee close behind them.

And with voters allowed to choose which party’s primary they want to vote in — without being registered in that party — it opens the possibility of Democrats voting in the GOP primary — either for their favorite Republican…or to create mischief.

Now, with the cold and snowfall of as much as 6 inches in some places, who calls it a day and stays home, and who slogs to the polls? Do Democrats who otherwise would have voted in the GOP Primary decide it’s not worth the bother? Do Huckabee’s evangelical voters turn out in full force? Could there be an even bigger surprise in store — meaning a Ron Paul victory?

Everyone knows that Iowans take their presidential politics way more seriously than most Americans, but this is ridiculous.

The Des Moines Register, longtime depository of all things you could ever want to know about the Iowa caucuses, has performed a public service for readers who want to mingle their politics with Halloween: “Carve a candidate” templates of the presidential candidates that can be used to carve a jack-o-lantern with the visage of, say, John McCain (who loves to say he’s got “more scars than Frankenstein”).

Alas, the templates include only the six candidates at the front of the pack, so supporters of Dennis Kucinich and Tom Tancredo are out of luck.

(And who says newspapers no longer perform the vital civic function they once did?)

When Rudy Giuliani was in Minneapolis this week, a week marked by by increasingly bitter rhetoric among the Republican presidential frontrunners, he was asked about the apparent violation of Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment (thou shalt not speak ill of thy Republican brethren).

He was all sweetness and light, saying he doesn’t engage in that kind of thing. “If you look at my statements, you’ll see I get criticized for spending too much time on the Democrats,” he said. “The only time I mention [other Republicans] is when I have to defend myself against false charges and exaggerated charges.” As the party’s current front runner, “the liability is that everyone else shoots at you,” he continued. “I’ve been in politics a long time and you deal with the hand you’ve been dealt. I don’t take it personally, but if I’m falsely attacked, I have to answer.”

That was Thursday morning. Within 24 hours, Giuliani’s campaign fired off its own shot against Mitt Romney in an e-mail to reporters that went on for 10 pages. Its subject line? “MITT & HILLARY SINGING FROM THE SAME SONG SHEET.”

On topics ranging from Roe vs. Wade to abortion and gun control, the campaign cherry-picked quotes from Romney and Hillary Clinton in a way that made them look like political. Siamese twins. Its conclusion: “Mitt Romney’s latest political pandering proves yet again he is merely a candidate of convenience. Mitt’s ever-changing positions and negative attacks scream of a losing candidate who has spent millions of his own money only to find Republican voters want something he cannot buy — true leadership.”

  In other intra-party squabbling news, Barack Obama sent out his own e-mail to reporters Friday that actually mentioned Clinton by name in an attack, something he’s been loath to do to date. By holding a rural issues forum at a Washington lobbying firm, the e-mail read, “it seems like Senator Clinton is listening to Washington lobbyists instead of spending time in Iowa with folks who have been farming for decades.” However, the harsh words weren’t attributed to the candidate who says he’s not going to wallow in the attack politics of the past. Rather, they were placed in the mouth of Gary Lamb, the former head of the Iowa Farmer’s Union.
 

And it’s still only October…      

Now that the third-quarter presidential fundraising stats have been released by the Federal Election Commission, some interesting nuggets emerged about contributors from Minnesota, beyond the big-picture story of the money race.

Until now, the Republican presidential campaign in Minnesota has amounted to little more than check-writing and the occasional candidate drop-in. But former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney got a boost from party insiders last week that could conceivably help him come caucus night next Feb. 5, when the GOP faithful gather to choose their favored candidate. State national committee members Brian Sullivan and Evie Axdahl were formally added to the list of 32 current and former Republican National Committe members supporting Romney. Sullivan and Axdahl also are serving on the candidate’s Minnesota steering committee.