The 2008 Iowa Caucas

The Democratic Results:
Obama
Edwards
Clinton
Richardson
Biden
Dodd
Gravel
Kucinich

The Democrats:
I am enthused that Sen. Barack Obama won the Iowa Democratic Caucus last night, and watching his victory speech, it was tough for me to not want to jump onto the Obama bandwagon. He now has an immense amount of momentum going into New Hampshire, much to the dismay of Sen. Hillary Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards. As I watched him, I thought of Bobby Kennedy. I was not alive during the time of Mr. Kennedy, but from what I have read, seen, and studied, I feel there is a great many similarities between his time and ours, as well as himself and Mr. Obama. Both are Democrats. Both are anti-war candidates (Mr. Kennedy was running during the Vietnam War). Both have an enthusiasm and energy that is rarely seen in politics. Both receive, by and large, the support of the young. Both are working for genuine change.

But the thing about last night that really got me motivated was the fact that Sen. Hillary Clinton came in third. Her nomination was inevitable, we were told. She has the most money, we were told. These primaries are merely a formality, we were told. I think not. She didn't even have the majority support of women caucus-goers; they were overwhelmingly for Mr. Obama. She is the status quo. She is not change of any kind, merely more of the same.

Sens. Chris Dodd and Joe Biden, having not done well at all in last night's caucus, have announced that they are giving up on their campaigns for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. I feel slightly bad for Mr. Dodd, since he had moved his family to Iowa in order to campaign. Sorry.

The Republican Results:
Huckabee
Romney
Thompson
McCain
Paul
Guiliani
Hunter

The Republicans:
Take a seat, Mr. Romney. You spent over $6 million on ad-buys alone, and you still came in second. I don't like you, and the Republican Party would be lost in the woods if you were the nominee.

Mr. Huckabee, congratulations on your win, and I applaud you showing that you can't buy the Iowa Caucus, but as I have stated in a previous post, you are still a lightweight. I don't care what Chuck Norris thinks about politics...or really about anything, because he starred in "Walker, Texas Ranger." Enough said. Also, you haven't got a clue what's going out outside of our country.
The best piece of news culled from the Iowa Republican Caucus, however, is that Sen. John McCain, who had spent minimal time in Iowa, came in third, and even though they are tied in percentage, he beat former Sen. Fred Thompson in number of votes received. Watch out for him in New Hampshire on Tuesday.

In Conclusion:
I think that Fred Thompson should get out of the race. He is out of touch with Americans, and he will not be elected by acting like a bully. This is not TV.

I think that Rudy Giuliani's strategy of blowing off the first 4 or 5 presidential primary contests is a terrible one. I don't know if it's ignorance or apathy, but he is not going to recover.

Rep. Duncan Hunter should end his campaign for the White House. I mean, really, what's the point?

I not sure that Ron Paul, though he has the most funds to work with, will be able to compete with the overall public support of the upper candidates.

I think that Mitt Romney will not win the New Hampshire Primary, thus completely decimating his plan of winning both Iowa and New Hampshire. This will end his campaign...I hope.

I think that Hillary Clinton will continue to not do as well as everyone knew she would.

I think that the Obama train will be hard to stop with all this steam behind it.

I think that an Obama/Edwards ticket would be a very viable contender in the general election; Obama's candidacy would bring astronomical black turnout, and Edwards would help with southern support.

For the Republicans, I would like to see John McCain as the presidential candidate. I would not like to see any of the current Republicans in the race be the VP candidate, since they are all pathetic. Maybe someone like Sen. Chuck Hagel? We'll see.

And one last note: The number of caucus-goers last night was well over 300,000; an extremely high number, which is great. However, Democratic caucus-goers out-numbered Republicans 2-to-1. I think that this is a sign of things to come for the general election in November.