When I started both this column and our now nine-year-old polling and political electronic news firm, I swore off partisan politics. I don't campaign for candidates and don't really care who wins any particular race. I have to treat politicians like a proctologist treats, well, nevermind . . .

But my non-partisanship doesn't keep me from looking at the Republican Party -- the one that gave us Ronald Reagan and took over the U.S. House in the 1994 elections -- and ask, "Who stole my party?"

I have an answer for you. At one time, the GOP was the party that fought for open government, term limits, reductions in spending and less government intrusion. When I was involved in the Republican Party, we wanted the IRS disbanded and the Department of Education either reduced, made useful, or abolished. We believed in the goodness of an individual and the greatness of individualism.

If you want to know why no one -- including my firm -- can poll the Iowa caucus with any sense of certainty, it's because Iowa Republicans are demoralized and unenthusiastic. The two frontrunners are a guy, Mitt Romney, who looks slicker than a television preacher, and another, Mike Huckabee, who really was a preacher but can't seem to decide how he wants to run his race. It's a mess.

If you really want to know what ruined the GOP I loved, it's called greed. That's right. We had a successful ride under Reagan, and suddenly everybody decided that they could carry on his magic and turn a quick buck as the good times rolled on.

Then after the Republicans took the White House and both the House and Senate, it was just all too tempting to become the "establishment" that most Republicans had railed against for years.

I could name you plenty of members of Congress who promised limit terms. Most are either still there, were defeated, or just couldn't avoid the lure of making big money, by lobbying and such, while their colleagues were still in power.

As far as reducing government, what a joke! The GOP has helped create endless additional laws and spent wild amounts of money in the same manner as the Democrats we used to criticize. Continued...