The Iowa caucuses happened this week with some interesting results. Let’s dissect those for a second and evaluate the presidential field moving forward. Why don’t we start with the most interesting, most crowded and loudest group in the scrum this election cycle….
Republicans
Well, Donald Trump lost in Iowa. I would say we should gather a group of Ewoks and sing the “Yub Nub” song in celebration (that’s a deep cut for all the Return of the Jedi fans out there), but a new evil has awoken in the Force. His name is Ted Cruz. And he is probably the new frontrunner of the Republican Party.
Now, I don’t despise Cruz in the same way that I despise someone like Trump. Cruz isn’t as openly hateful as Trump or as eager to tread on our Constitution as the Donald. That being said, he still drives me nuts. I think his filibuster against Obamacare in 2013 was a gross over-display of resentment for the bill and only slowed the inevitable business of government.
I disagree with him on almost every social issue, from his marriage policies to his A+ rating from the National Rifle Association. So, get ready to hear a lot about him in the next few weeks. All that said, there was a surprisingly humble concession speech from Trump delivered on Monday night.
I suspect eating humble pie doesn’t taste so sweet when you’re expecting a victory. Marco Rubio’s campaign just got a huge boon having tied with Trump and the night spelled the death knell for the Huckabee campaign.
Though, I would say that his campaign’s cover of Adele’s “Hello” was the final nail in his coffin, a last-ditch attempt to appeal to younger voters that reeked of desperation. Hopefully, more candidates will drop out and some attention could find its way to one of the few moderates in the game – Ohio governor John Kasich.
Democrats
I imagine that despite winning by a slim margin, Hillary Clinton is spitting nickels today. This was supposed to be easy. She was supposed to be the frontrunner. She was supposed to have this in the bag. Now, she finds herself being bested by a far-left senator whom many in the mainstream media and press find to be completely unelectable.
Even more challenging, now she’s got to go into New Hampshire where she is trailing Bernie Sanders (that far-left senator I was talking about) by 17 points. Could we possibly be in the midst of a Sanders upset? Could Sanders go the route of John Kerry and use New Hampshire as a springboard to reaching higher office? It’s more than possible that could end up being the case.
But it’s important to remember that even though the caucuses can be a great indicator of where the political cycle is going to go, they are not always the prognosticators of who the top donkey and top elephant are going to be. Remember, Howard Dean (Democrat) and Mike Huckabee (Republican) once won Iowa at different points in time, but neither made it to final dance.
Either way, I imagine that we are going to see a major step-up from the Clinton campaign in the coming days. In a way, I pity the people of New Hampshire and the fact that they’re going to have to sit through so many political ads, robocalls and door-to-door visits that they are going to have to endure.
On the other hand, I wonder what it would be like to be constantly hounded by desperate politicians for my precious, precious, precious vote. Oh well.
Either which way, onward to New Hampshire and all the madness that awaits the political circuit there.
Brian Laughran
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