Huckabee (GOP) and Obama (Dem) Win Iowa Caucus

[Thunderball]

Huckabee is way too radical to win at the presidential level... and is probably too radical to even win the GOP primaries.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by HOZ

Wow...


1) Clinton's air of inevitability just went up in smoke. We are back with a three way race for the Democratic nomination...for the time being. Go Obama!


2) I guess Huckabee's worries of hordes of Pakistani illegals pouring over the Mexican border really struck with the the locals.

Clinton was always predicted to lose Iowa. This proves nothing. If she loses NH then that is something to talk about.

[FurnaceFace]

Credit to Dave Berry:

But the big story on the GOP side is former senator or governor of some state Mike (or possibly Bob) Huckabee, who surges ahead in the polls because (a) nobody knows anything about him, and (b) it's fun to say ''Huckabee.'' Huckabee Huckabee Huckabee.

[HOZ]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Huckabee simply cornened the massive evangelical vote in his soft-spoken Pastorly manner. Scary guy.

I am at a loss to find what is scary about this guy. From all indications he was a fairly good governor and seems to be a fairly decent fellow. Now he isn't my choice to be leader of my country but he is far from scary. Quite the opposite.

[jammies]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

I would rather Hillary have a go, Bill still has a lot of goodwill and connections with many politicians and leaders around the world.

I don't see how this is good for democracy in the US at all - 6 presidential elections in a row won by individuals from 2 different families? Sounds like some 3rd rate democracy where the rich and powerful monopolize the electoral process... oh, wait. My bad. Carry on, Hillary.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by jammies

I don't see how this is good for democracy in the US at all - 6 presidential elections in a row won by individuals from 2 different families? Sounds like some 3rd rate democracy where the rich and powerful monopolize the electoral process... oh, wait. My bad. Carry on, Hillary.

Human beings tend to like continuity, families, dynasties, it's human nature even if it's actually really terrible for democracy. But for me, I would just like seeing Bill Clinton hanging about the Whitehouse again and seeing how the international world deals with Presidential visits... purely for the comedy factor. I still remember vividly his leaving the Whitehouse video from 8 years ago, one of the funniest things I have ever seen.

[Hack&Lube]

Originally Posted by HOZ

I am at a loss to find what is scary about this guy. From all indications he was a fairly good governor and seems to be a fairly decent fellow. Now he isn't my choice to be leader of my country but he is far from scary. Quite the opposite.

If you've ever stayed up late at night, you might have (like I have) caught Mike Huckabee on those extreme right-wing evangelical programs that air sometimes instead of infommercials or on the Vision network...after Benny Hinn and the guy hucking Holy Water for $19.95 + S&H. I mean, he was still a very nice guy and genuinely so...I just find those specific programs dubious.

[Flames in 07]

Originally Posted by Displaced Flames fan

I'm sorry, but 'ability to unify the country' SHOULD be the most important category and that is exactly why he is the only dem I will consider voting for.

I'm sorry but I disagree quite strongly with this.

nobody can truely unify the american voters, over the years voters have become more polarized, at one extreme or the other. That's not a knock on the US, (many countries including Canada is experiencing the same thing (although for different reasons) it just an obvious fact to me.

The most important category by 1000 miles is ability to construct and execute an effective foreign affairs policy.

[QuadCityImages]

My views as an Iowan:

-I didn't caucus, because like 40% of Iowan voters, I'm registered Independent. I don't believe in political parties, so I refused to even "register at the door, and unregister on the way out" like folks were pushing me to.

-The mainstream media, and the candidates love to act like Iowa is mostly farmers. The actual number is less than 5% of our population. More than half of Iowans live in urban centers, not small towns. Unfortunately, since people don't like having their stereotypes interrupted, we get cornstalks and hay bales at our urban political rallies. Personally, I don't even know a farmer.

-There's no way to spin the Democratic caucus other than a tie. A Democrat needs 2,025 delegates at the convention for the nomination. Yesterday's caucus decided 45 of them: 16 for Obama, 15 for Edwards, and 14 for Clinton. That hardly "decides" the election, as the press likes to pretend that Iowa does. The top 3 are separated by 1 delegate out of over 2,000.

[Dan02]

Originally Posted by QuadCityImages

-There's no way to spin the Democratic caucus other than a tie. A Democrat needs 2,025 delegates at the convention for the nomination. Yesterday's caucus decided 45 of them: 16 for Obama, 15 for Edwards, and 14 for Clinton. That hardly "decides" the election, as the press likes to pretend that Iowa does. The top 3 are separated by 1 delegate out of over 2,000.

according to CNN its 16 obama 14 edwards 15 Clinton.

Going on straight % of votes recieved one would think it should be 18 Obama 13 Edwards 13 Clinton. Can someone explain to me how they decide how many delegates each person gets if it's not based on the %s?

[Phaneuf3]

Originally Posted by HOZ

I am at a loss to find what is scary about this guy. From all indications he was a fairly good governor and seems to be a fairly decent fellow. Now he isn't my choice to be leader of my country but he is far from scary. Quite the opposite.

people think he's quite scary with his views on abortion, women's role in society, homosexuality, evolution, etc, etc.

what i think is the scariest however is his apparent ignorance of foreign policy. When the NIE was released back in December and was asked about it he had no idea what it was or what it contained. He likened keeping up on intelligence about Iran which is shaping foreign policy to celebrity gossip.


I think the democrats are going to take this election - obama is the only dem i could support but i could live with anyone but hillary.

[mykalberta]

Huckabee defeating Romney by such a large margin likely removes Mitt from any serious contention. New Hampshire will be interesting, McCain is likely to win but Huckabee could make it close, 3rd and 4th will be extremely important. I hope my guy can get 3rd but Super Tuesday is make or break for him, I think he can since the far right vote will be taken by Huck and McCain leaving nothing but scraps for Thompson and Mitt (Hillary showing weakness is not great).

On the Democratic side I think this officially elimiates Edwards - he practically moved to Iowa and still could get within 9 points. New Hampshire I think is more imporant for Obama now, if he can win and again win big Hillary migh be in trouble. I think she stays in it until the end but who knows.

If Obama could win the democratic nomination, wow that would really be something.

On a side note, really impressed by MSNBC coverage last night. IMO was superior to FNC coverage (unusual to say the least). CNN is just sad IMO.

[Bobblehead]

I wonder if Huckabee is not another puppet candidate.

He went on Leno the other night, and in the process he "crossed" the Writer's Guild picket lines.

If he crossed or not isn't a big deal to me. But when asked about it , he said he thought an agreement had been reached with all late night talk shows. But an agreement was only reached with Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants.

If you are a presidential candidate making an appearance on a national TV show on the first night back after they have been off the air due to the strike, I would think he should be quite sure on the circumstances surrounding the strike. It isn't like there hadn't been a number of news stories about how shows would do without writers and what stars would refuse to cross lines.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Who the heck is Huckabee?

...AND WHERE IS RON PAUL DAMMIT? j/k

Seriously though, Obama is just a figurehead for the real future president - OPRAH.

And what kind of name is Mitt? Why would you want the leader of your country to have a name that is also slang for "worn out vagina". Brutal.

[llama64]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

Who the heck is Huckabee?

...AND WHERE IS RON PAUL DAMMIT? j/k

Seriously though, Obama is just a figurehead for the real future president - OPRAH.

And what kind of name is Mitt? Why would you want the leader of your country to have a name that is also slang for "worn out vagina". Brutal.

Classy.

All this attention for such a meaning less event. Wake me up when the real presidential race occurs. American politics is overly dramatized and drawn out.

I wonder if the next race will come down to Oprah versus Arnold.

[HOZ]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

Seriously though, Obama is just a figurehead for the real future president - OPRAH.

Damn...knew he was too good to be true.

[HOZ]

The greatest crime so far has been there hasn't been any good political cartoons yet about this primary!

[Phaneuf3]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

...AND WHERE IS RON PAUL DAMMIT? j/k

polling at about 10% which is triple what most polls said he would get. quite impressive considering the only coverage he got from the mainstream media was to call him a fringe candidate and call his supporters wackos.
also impressive that he's only a couple percent from a tie for third with two of the frontrunners... and that he smoked mr 9/11.

interesting note: apparently 73% of people that voted in the iowa republican caucus asked think bush is doing a good job... trying to confirm this with a better source than some guy heard it on the news cause we all know that 87% of statistics are made up.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by QuadCityImages

My views as an Iowan:

-I didn't caucus, because like 40% of Iowan voters, I'm registered Independent. I don't believe in political parties, so I refused to even "register at the door, and unregister on the way out" like folks were pushing me to.

-The mainstream media, and the candidates love to act like Iowa is mostly farmers. The actual number is less than 5% of our population. More than half of Iowans live in urban centers, not small towns. Unfortunately, since people don't like having their stereotypes interrupted, we get cornstalks and hay bales at our urban political rallies. Personally, I don't even know a farmer.

-There's no way to spin the Democratic caucus other than a tie. A Democrat needs 2,025 delegates at the convention for the nomination. Yesterday's caucus decided 45 of them: 16 for Obama, 15 for Edwards, and 14 for Clinton. That hardly "decides" the election, as the press likes to pretend that Iowa does. The top 3 are separated by 1 delegate out of over 2,000.

Maybe you can answer this for me. Do the nomination elections run like the actual election where each state is an all or nothing thing per state. Or does each delegate count from each state count towards your total?

I always assumed the former, but your last paragraph suggests the later is important.

[QuadCityImages]

Its the latter. If you go to CNN Politics, and scroll down to where it says Election Center, you can see the current situation. The Democrat side is complicated by the fact that there are hundreds of "Superdelegates" which are basically at large votes given to various party officials, etc. That's why Hillary is shown having 169 delegates, even though a total of only 45 were decided last night.

So since we're talking a tiny, tiny percentage of the 2025 delegates needed, or 1,191 in the Republicans case, I really don't see how people can suggest that anyone is "out" because of Iowa. Obviously if you get 2% you can assume that your popularity isn't going to be THAT much higher in other states, but considering how close the front runners were, I'd say they all still have a chance. If folks from other states base their vote on who wins Iowa, they're the ones at fault for the "too much influence" Iowa supposedly has.