Update: Fox is predicting a Huckabee win - fairly big - 36 - 23. I get it, but Huckabee is still going away. This will be yet another year wherein Iowa gets it wrong. That isn't unusual.
Update: It's looking like Evangelicals are turning out for Huckabee - many one issue voters: religion. That would give him Iowa, possibly SC, but not the nomination. Entrance polls don't get him to fifty percent even among Evangelicals.
Update: Early results and big crowds, that could be good for Obama and Huckabee. But it really depends on who is turning out. 2% reporting and it looks like western Iowa - McCain and Huck country. Edwards, too.
h/t Michelle: Hot Air is blogging it, too.
They'll probably be breaking Entrance Polls, as opposed to Exit Polls, first. The Republican side of things should wrap up first. The Democrat results could be late due to the fifteen percent minimum level of support. The process for caucus goers to get to their second pick has to play out on the Dem side. I'll update.
It's God's will, patriots. Mike Huckleberry was sent to you by Him.
Have fun with that!
Posted by: BobInStamford | Thursday, January 03, 2008 at 09:01 PM
Don't sell Romney down the river yet. There's still New Hampshire primary for him to take.
Posted by: Islamollama | Thursday, January 03, 2008 at 10:10 PM
Well, I had to vomit with rage all over this somewhat unexpected result.
Too bad the people of Iowa had to go for the single-issue candidate... don't get me wrong, I think that faith and values issues are important, but neglecting the rest of the conservative package in favour or a Christian Socialist like Hckabee is a failure on the part of those Iowans who caucused for him.
He will get shredded in the atheist/agnostic hive that is New Hampshire, and we will be looking at a McCain/Romney race for the south, assuming Fred can't pull a miracle out of South Carolina.
It will be kind of interesting to see which of Romney or McCain the MSM+Fox will turn its fangs on, as clearly Fred is now irrelevant in their eyes.
Either way kids, it's going to be a choice between Christian Socialism, a runaway Immigrant state, or the Mystery Flip-Flop versus the Obama Caliphate and the Klington Empire.
Posted by: seekeronos | Thursday, January 03, 2008 at 10:54 PM
Huckabee will not survive Super Tuesday and you can take that to the bank.
On the upside, Ron Paul is going down faster than a fat intern in a blue dress.
Posted by: Yojimbo | Thursday, January 03, 2008 at 11:14 PM
"I think that faith and values issues are important, but neglecting the rest of the conservative package in favour or a Christian Socialist like Hckabee is a failure on the part of those Iowans who caucused for him."
I'll say. The nerve of those people for embracing Christian Morals while rejecting fundamental principles of capitalism like corporate handouts and Norquist government drownings. Who the hell do those Iowan voters think they are? A bunch of agricultural minded farm hands who reap huge benefits from farm subsidies? The sheer arrogance that Iowans would put their best interests above my own!
Posted by: Islamollama | Friday, January 04, 2008 at 12:57 AM
"--- ...The sheer arrogance that Iowans would put their best interests above my own! --"
Not at all. It is perfectly expected that Iowans would give obeisance to any candidates who bow before the Dread Lord Ethanol and his prophet, Subsidy.
However, it is equally irresponsible - if not selfish - as the "gatekeepers of the electoral proces" to neglect the spectrum of issues affecting Americans.
Unfortunately, it is this exact sort of parochialism that inflicts upon the rest of the Republic a candidate boosted by one paradigm which may not fit the needs of the United States as a nation.
Indeed, the United States are more than just the sum of each of the states.
As for Christian morals, those are definitely fine to embrace, but the fight against abortions and gay marriages are the end-all be-all of American politics, especially when equally grave issues like the future of the Soc. Security and immigration, and the national defense are concerned.
I want a Commander-in-Chief who will be able to sit down with the enemy and dictate terms to them, an administrator who will rein in unchecked spending, keep out enemy aliens who disrupt my peace and livelihood, and a leader who will otherwise reduce the amount of annoyance by and the intrusion of federal government into every aspect of my life.
Huckabee will (try to) make sure that gay guys and gals can't marry and that other folks don't kill unborn babies. Nice things, but they aren't the entire goal.
I want the entire goal - I want Fred Thompson as my Commander in Chief.
Posted by: seekeronos | Friday, January 04, 2008 at 02:18 PM