Iowa Results

Three things stand out in my mind about last night's Iowa caucus results.

1. White voters are excited about Obama. More than 93% of Iowans are White, at least 50% call themselves Born Again Christians, and the split between Republicans and Democrats is roughly 50-50. In spite of all this, Barack Obama got more votes last night than Huckabee and Romney combined. This gives me hope that maybe our country's racism has subsided enough to elect a Black man.

2. Romney and Clinton failed miserably. Both candidates mounted full-scale campaigns and spent big bucks in Iowa. Both finished nine points behind the leaders. Ouch. For both of them, it's now imperative that they win convincingly in New Hampshire. I predict neither of them will.

3. Obama's victory speech. Even seasoned, jaded political pundits are talking about how inspiring it was. Some have even said it was evocative of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy.

(Click below to play video)

Favorite quote:

There are days of disappointment. But sometimes, just sometimes, there are nights like this. A night that years from now — when we've made the changes that we believe in, when more families can afford to see a doctor, when our children inherit a planet that's a little cleaner and safer, when the world sees America differently and America sees itself as a nation less divided and more united — you'll be able to look back with pride and say that this was the moment when it all began.

This was the moment when we tore down barriers that have divided us for too long, when we rallied people from all parties and ages to a common cause, when we finally gave Americans who had never participated in politics a reason to stand up. This was the moment when we finally beat back the politics of fear and doubt and cynicism, the politics where we tear each other down instead of lifting this country up. This was the moment.

Followup (1/5/2008): One of the quirks of the Iowa caucus is that the number of Republican votes is tallied normally, while the number of Democratic votes is only estimated. According to Reuters, Democratic turnout was approximately 239,000. Plugging this value into the results reported by CNN reveals that Obama probably outscored the top three Republican candidates combined (Huckabee, Romney, and Thompson).