Congratulations to Obama! The big story out of Iowa tonight is that Iowans stood up for change-and in a big way. The turnout for the Democratic caucus here topped a quarter million, more than 100% greater than in 2004. Many who caucused were new voters, and many were young. A half to a third of that number turned out on the Republican side, and more than half of those caucusers identified themselves as "born again" or "evangelical," clearly contributing to Huckabee's victory. If those trends hold though the the general election, that bodes very well for Democrats.
Obama had an amazing night, frankly doing what I never thought he could do here, and John Edwards also did well, finishing ahead of Clinton. It's clear that the voters want change-now they have to look hard at Edwards and Obama and decide just what sort of change they really want. Not that I think Clinton is out of the race, but I do think she has to win in New Hampshire. We are staying at the same hotel as the Clinton campaign, and her party was here. I would describe the mood as somber. I wouldn't take anything for the time we spent here. It was an amazing experience watching democracy in action. Here are a few pictures:
Sunset in Earlham, Iowa
A Metaphor for the Caucus In Earlham, Iowa
Edwards at Steelworkers' Union on Caucus Morning
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2 comments:
Love the photos! Glad you had this wonderful experience. On to New Hampshire. Dems are lucky in that all our candidates are good !
This is going to be an exciting year.
I thought that Edwards made a great speech last night, and I was impressed by his 36 hour marathon of campaigning. All three of the Democratic frontrunners seem fired up to me, and I think that the campaign is going to energize both young and old to vote Democratic. Hopefully, some of that energy will spread down south as well.
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