I know, I know. I've hear it a thousand times. Iowa means next to nothing. But it's still a lot of fun, isn't it?
Clearly, the story of the night was Barack Obama who trounced "Billary" Clinton and John "Silky" Edwards in the quirky Democratic caucus. Clinton's definitely hurting right now and it looks pretty damn good on her. At the end of the day, though, I'd still rather she won the nomination since it seems impossible to me that she could win the presidency.
On the Republican side, Huckabee's win was painful to watch but not all that surprising. According to CNN, 60% of Iowa voters at the caucus were Evangelical and, evidently, they voted like Evangelicals. The big stories on the GOP side were Romney and Thompson. Mitt Romney pumped millions of dollars into Iowa and fell way short. I think he's got some good policies and he campaigned harder than any other Republican in the state so I was a little surprised at just how short he fell of Huckabee. He's still far from out of the race but it's all going to come down to New Hampshire for him. And that contest won't be made any easier by McCain's strong showing tonight. Fred Thompson was the real variable in this race and, as some of you may know, he's my favourite of the candidates so I'm pleased that he's contending like he is. For now, it seems like he's going to finish 3rd although it's still really tight with McCain as the last votes roll in. Regardless, his performance can only be considered a victory for Fred. This should help him gain some momentum going into New Hampshire and, if all goes well, he'll make it to South Carolina where a win would mean a real chance at the Republican nomination.
I think, though, that the most interesting aspect of the Iowa caucuses was the turnout; 212,000. That's up from 125,000 last time around.
All in all, a good start to what promises to be a great race.
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