Iowa Caucuses

The Iowa Caucuses are over and the presidential candidates are now moving on to campaigning near our homes in New Hampshire for the New Hampshire primary.  The Iowa Caucuses were full of suspense and surprises from both the Republicans and Democrats.

On the Republican side, Ted Cruz emerged the victor leaving Donald Trump in second.  And as tweeted by Trump once “No one remembers who came in second”.  Marco Rubio came in third.  I predicted months ago, long before the Caucus, that Marco Rubio would surge ahead.  I still think he will eventually become the Republican nominee as I thought months ago.  Cruz winning Iowa is unsurprising considering his following and relationship with evangelical Christians there.  I also think Trump’s second place is just the beginning of his decline.  While Marco Rubio did well coming in third, he still did not win.  If you just watched his speech after the Caucuses, however; you would have thought he had won.  

On the Democrat side, I sat on the edge of my seat as the results from precinct after precinct trickled in.  The race in Iowa could not have been closer.  As more and more results came in, the race became tighter and tighter.  It went from 51% for Hillary Clinton and 49% for Bernie Sanders to 50% for Hillary Clinton and 50% for Bernie Sanders.  The closest they became was Hillary Clinton ahead by approximately 3 delegate equivalents (different than actual delegates) with a 0.2% lead.  The race was too close to call, and the final results were not called until the next day, but Hillary Clinton’s campaign decided to declare themselves the winners the night of when the race was too close to call which surprised everyone.  And then in the middle of Ted Cruz’s speech, Hillary Clinton began her speech.  The networks were as bewildered as I was by these choices.  Twitter meanwhile was abuzz that some precincts were deciding the winner by a coin flip; it was that close!  In the end Hillary Clinton eked out a win in Iowa by the smallest of margins, but both candidates will receive about the same number of delegates.  It is not a winner takes all situation so it is not extremely important who won when the margins are so close.  In the end, Hillary Clinton will receive 23 delegates and Bernie Sanders will receive 21 delegates.  

I am excited to see what happens next in the New Hampshire primaries, and then in our own primary on Super Tuesday.