I wonder if the results would be different if this were held in California or New York or Florida. Really, isn’t it time for the political process to change? The system is antiquated and costing us good candidates.

These results will mean what they usually mean - not much. A lot of things can happen over the course of just a couple of months, ask Billiary about that if you don’t believe it. No one won a decisive victory, particularly on the Dems side of the ball. I’d wait for a few more caucauses before trying to determine where these races are going.

I hope jim expounds on his comment a little bit more to let us know which candidate he likes that didn’t win today…

The results were nothing short of a butt whupping by Obama and Huckabee. McCain also had a pretty strong showing. Fred Thompson raised expectations way too high and feel way too short. Edwards put up a good fight, but it probably won’t be enough to keep things going. Hillary and Romney have a lot of work to do.

remember the book Gulliver’s Travels? the Lilliputians has some elaborate political traditions involving high-rope walking and wearing long colorful ribbons. I always think of that when someone tries to explain how the Iowa Caucus works. Especially the Democratic Caucus where they stand under a picture, and then if they don’t get 15% the other candidate supporters Red Rover you over to them. Is it just me or do you think that America, the Beacon of Democracy, should have a clear, inclusive and non-retarded candidate selection process?

Interesting statistics…

Total Voter Turnout (approximate)
356,000

Percentage of total vote
24.5% Obama
20.5% Edwards
19.8% Clinton
11.4% Huckabee (R)

LOL nice try to massage the numbers Lisa12, but that only mathematically works if you add the Dem caucaus voters and the GOP caucaus voters together and divide the whole number by each candidate’s vote total. Too bad that has absolutely nothing to do with the actual results other than to show that more people voted in the Dem caucaus than the GOP one. Big deal. Today’s vote was not a mandate for the Democrats in Iowa no matter what your calculator shows you. But it’s nice to see that Clinton math is still alive and well…

Approximate number of registered voters: 2 million
Approximate voter turnout: 0.35 million
Number of registered voters who were either not inspired to participate or who were disenfranchised by an establishment caucus system requiring attendance in the evening at a particular time (instead of during a 12-14 hour period in a primary election) and (in the case of the rules imposed by the Democratic Party) requiring voters to stay most of the evening, and (in both parties’ caucuses) with no opportunity for absentee ballots or ballots for citizens living abroad or military serving abroad: 1.65 million

Put in proper context, a mandate is hard to drum up.

I’m really getting weary of the sensational reporting surrounding this caucus and this election. Huckabee’s win was not a “shock” - it’s been predicted for weeks, and to indicate otherwise is lazy and innacurate. He played the “I’m a big Christian” card in a big Christian state. In this case, it worked. But Iowa is not America. And the so-called Christian “right” doesn’t speak for all Christians. In fact, many church-going Christians, myself included, are disgusted by his campaign tactics.

All it means to me is that I must take corrective action. I have turned the TV off. I don’t intend to listen to a buch of “experts” cuss, discuss, disect, bisect, and hen retrfit what happend to what they WISH had happened.

It’s way too early for me to be be bothered with that kind of foolishness.

Our election system is broken, and the primaries are no exception. Thanks to Iowa having the first primary, and the huge amount of attention the media heaps on it, an Iowan in a coffee shop has an infinitely better chance of having a discussion with a candidate than you do. Here in St. Louis, if you contribute a thousand dollars, you may get a hand shake as they walk the line at a fund raiser speech.

This country has 301 million people, 3 million of whom live in Iowa. I would love to say that those 1 percent of Americans don’t matter - but they do. Fact is, by super Tuesday (Feb 5th), the primaries will be unofficially over, the candidates for the major parties chosen - and all before the majority of Americans even get asked who they like.