Unhappy Returns
The Des Moines Register reports the official results this morning from last night's Iowa Caucuses. There will be no joy in some Mudvilles this morning:
Democrats (100% reporting):
Barack Obama - 38 percent
John Edwards - 30 percent
Hillary Clinton - 29 percent
Bill Richardson - 2 percent
Republicans (96% reporting)
Mike Huckabee 39,814 - 34 percent
Mitt Romney 29,405 - 25 percent
Fred Thompson 15,521 - 13 percent
John McCain 15,248 - 13 percent
Dodd and Biden have dropped out altogether. Most importantly, more than 2/3 of Democrats rejected Hillary Clinton's "inevitability." Is that fatal to her campaign? Of course not. She has gobs of money and impressive organizations in many places. But it stung her - and it really means she is going to have to work a heck of a lot harder to stay in this. Because a lot of the math just changed.
The math has changed on the Republican side as well. A much ballyhooed McCain rebound didn't happen. A virtual unknown came out of nowhere and pulled off an upset. I'm not sure that Huckabee can repeat his victory in other states yet, so I'm not sure how to interpret that result. It certainly derailed a lot of plans, though. Romney invested heavily in Iowa and got beaten badly.
All the pundits had pretty much called the Republican race unsettled , but it seems the Democratic race is just as unsettled - something they did not predict at all.
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No Runny Eggs » Blog Archive » Iowa fallout - the best of the field — January 4, 2008 @ 9:27 am
By Anthony (Los Angeles), January 4, 2008 @ 7:40 am
I predict Huckabee will fade fast. At least, I hope so.