So, Iowans has gone to their meetings and the results are in. With all of the analysis that’s going on, I thought I’d throw my 2 cents worth in.
Winners:
Among the candidates: Barack Obama, Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul.
Barack and Mike are the obvious choices. After all, they won the most delegates. I don’t see any way to call them losers.
Ron Paul? Say what you will, and I will not vote for the Doctor, but he got 10%. To be honest, who would have thought going in that he would have done so? What’s more, those 10% probably aren’t GOP basers (well, probably half of them, at least). That’s 5-10% that the Repugs will have to win back right there, which bodes well for the Dems.
Other winners: Iowa Democrats and Democrats in general. A 2 to 1 turnout advantage bodes well for interest in the Democratic candidates. Way to go Iowans.
Not winners, not losers: Hillary, John for the Dems, John McCain for Repugs. Hillary and Edwards are in a statistical dead heat (it looks like John will come in 2nd by less than 1 point over HRC) and it doesn’t knock either of the candidates out. McCain was dead in the water a month or so ago, so his finish is better than he probably should have gotten going in. Obviously, for these candidates, New Hampshire looms large.
Losers: Mitt, Fred, Rudy and Repugs in general. In general, they were out drawn by a 2 to 1 margin by the Dems, which doesn’t bode well for them. Mitt was the front-runner in Iowa up ’til the last two weeks and got scorched. Fred hasn’t caught on. Rudy, well, is Rudy even if he had given up in Iowa. Rudy probably won’t be the national front runner now, and it will be interesting to see if he’s able to play catch-up.
So, it’s one down and more than 50 to go (assuming DC, Puerto Rico and our other possessions get votes in the nominating process). It’s an interesting start to the voting season.
