Not a lot of surprises (per se) from last night – at least for me. The only occurrence that did surprise me was how quickly the Republican race was called – Mike Huckabee was projected to be the winner by the end of the first hour. And Barack Obama was projected to the winner by the end of the second hour. Was I surprised that Hillary placed third (albeit by one percent)? No, not at all. I think I’ve railed against her enough already to signal that this isn’t even close to being the “cakewalk” that she anticipated.
So do these results have significance? Perhaps. While it’s true that three of the most recent four presidents didn’t win the Iowa Caucus, this is a new day. And really what’s striking to me is that in both parties, those who won have been successful not only in being the ‘nice guys’, but in successfully portraying themselves as the ‘change agents’ that many Americans are so desperately searching for. The NH winners may be totally different, but if Obama and Huckabee end up making strong enough second place showings before moving into South Carolina – it’s difficult to place a roadblock in front of the “big mo” (a sports reference for the non-sports fans) at that point. Especially in the Democratic race, since Obama does have the money and organization to hold strong going into the ridiculously-scheduled clash dubbed “Super Tuesday” on February 5th.
Remaining Caucus comments:
I was so pleased to see both Jack Cafferty and Soledad O’Brien last night. Jack is always so forthright about the injustices and the inequality and the stupidity and the callousness that surrounds so many of the decisions that our governmental representatives make. And not just the elected ones, either. Even though Jack’s appearances are ‘dedicated’ to TSR, I’d really like to see a short AC/JC segment each night on 360 – even a pre-taped one would be terrific! They were a wonderful pairing on AM, and I miss the informative (yet humorous) banter. “Loveable curmudgeon” that Jack is!!
And Soledad’s pairing with Bill Schneider was also very informative – presenting relevant statistical overviews with context and without putting viewers to sleep is always a welcome change!
Not sure the “portable pizza pie chart” worked all that well last night. Maybe Anderson needs to ‘practice’ a bit with it? It didn’t last very long during the evening!
I’m still miffed at Bill Bennett. At least he didn’t have any new ‘e-mail revelations’ to ‘share’ on live TV – I suppose we should be thankful for that!
Ron Paul ended up with 10% of the Iowa vote – if nothing else, a roundabout concurrence with the other results which demonstrated that caucus goers were focused on change. But he did (significantly) better than Rudy Giuliani. I wonder if Rudy’s “proportional campaign” strategy will end up being his eventual downfall?
I apologize for being petty, but was it really necessary to have Chuck Norris standing right behind Huckabee as he delivered his ‘victory’ speech? Maybe we’ve all been underestimating the “Chuck Factor” in this race??
And I don’t know who Obama’s speechwriter is, but he (or she) is a master wordsmith. Even if he didn’t mean a single word of it, it was THE best delivery of a political speech that I’ve heard in a very long time.
My one disappointment of the night – a large one but not unexpected – both Joe Biden and Chris Dodd have dropped out of the race. I hope that, whoever wins, will look to these two extensively experienced public servants for advisement and counsel – it’s going to be needed!
Best line of the night:
Jack Cafferty (to Bill Bennett): "I’ll bet you wouldn’t want to be Bill (Clinton) tonight.”
Bill Bennett: “I would never want to be Bill (Clinton) on any night.”
Donna Brazile (in the background): “But you are Bill (meaning Bennett).”
One last thought:
Change [cheynj]: – verb (used with object)
1. to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone.
Could the underlying message have been communicated any more solidly last night?
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1 comment:
Newsblooz: I agree the Republican results did seem to come in rather quickly, but then their caucus process is a lot less complicated than the Democratic one. I had predicted that Huckabee and Obama would win last night so the results were no surprise to me. However, I was surprised at Hillary Clinton’s third place finish.
Something tells me that the good guy image of both Huckabee and Obama will change drastically in the days to come. I agree that a change is needed, but people better stop and think about what the changes offered really represent.
It is sad that money plays such a big part in the election process. I think each candidate should be allowed the same amount of money to work with when running for office and whoever does the best with the money wins.
I think it is now a matter of whom the supporters of the candidates in second and third place would tend to support. Look at the Edwards and Clinton supporters. Everyone is saying that Obama’s strength is the youth vote and that is who he is playing to. If the Edwards and Clinton supporters are older voters does that mean they will be turned off by Obama if he becomes the Democratic candidate? It is a possibility. On the Republican side I think Huckabee is in a better position.
Jack and Soledad were a welcome addition to last night’s programming! I loved it when Jack did AM with Anderson; they had so much fun together.
Yeah, “Pizza Man” was a little shaky last night! Anderson definitely needs a bit more practice with his little “portable pizza pie chart!”
I am sorry, but I laughed when I saw Chuck “Walker, Texas Ranger” Norris standing behind Huckabee last night. I guess I also underestimated the “Chuck Factor” in this race. I didn’t realize there were that many Germans in Iowa!!
Obama gives a great speech, but he doesn’t do so well when he isn’t reading from a script.
A change is definitely coming!
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