Iowa Caucuses

Early indicators say Sanders will sweep Iowa.

Claire McCaskill says the Republicans have not attacked Bernie because they WANT to run against him. They figure he'll be a lot easier to beat than Hillary.

I think they have no idea what a Sanders candidacy will unleash.

I hope you're right about the unleashing. Sanders' supporters are much more enthusiastic than Clinton's. It would be great if the Democrats showed up in huge numbers at the voting booth.

For the past few months, surveys about possible general elections have shown Sanders beating every Republican by a larger plurality than Clinton. In some of the surveys, Clinton loses to Rubio, but Sanders still beats him.

If nothing else, the support that Sanders is getting will teach the Democratic Party something: the country is tired of the Democrats being just Republican Lite.

If it is Sanders v. Trump in the general -- though WAY TOO EARLY to make that prediction -- wouldn't that be a nice contrast to see where the voters are in this country: the billionaire versus the billionaire-killer.

Both outsiders.

Both promising revolutions.

Both promising they can't be bought. A total loss for the Koch brothers.

Citizens United is in the crosshairs.

With 46% of precincts reporting, Ted Cruz is leading Donald Trump by a couple of percentage points, with Rubio a distant third. Nobody else even comes close.

NoCoPilot wrote:

If it is Sanders v. Trump in the general -- though WAY TOO EARLY to make that prediction -- wouldn't that be a nice contrast to see where the voters are in this country: the billionaire versus the billionaire-killer.

My wife and I were discussing this last night. Intriguing. But considering what the American voters have done in the past, it's a little scary.

If Trump loses this caucus, I wouldn't be surprised to see him drop out.. I don't think his ego could stand losing.

No, Iowa is a heavily-evangelical state and Cruz is the evangelical candidate. Trump is polling way ahead of Cruz in the next primary, New Hampshire, which is next week I believe. Trump will stay in at least until then.

MSNBC just called the Republican caucus for Cruz,

Hillary & Bernie still too close to call.

With 88% of the precincts in, Hillary leads Bernie by six.  I think that's six delegates, not six voters. 620 to 614.

Trump just said, "I love Iowa.  I think I might come up here and buy a farm."

Trump buying the farm.  Hmmmm.

Hillary's lead down to three. 90% counted.

Ninety percent of the votes in -- Clinton and Sanders each have fifty percent of them.

Woke up this morning to this:

Quote :

Okay folks, we’re shutting down the live blog. The Democratic race remains unresolved with 12 precincts yet to be counted. It is unclear when we will get those results. For now, Hillary Clinton maintains a 49.9 percent to 49.6 percent lead over Bernie Sanders in state delegate equivalents. For all intents and purposes, the race is basically a tie.

With 100% in, it's Hillary 701 delegate proxies, Bernie 697 delegate proxies.

I really thought the high turnout of first-time voters would result in a Bernie win. I guess getting within four votes -- 0.3% -- of the presumptive winner might be best victory he can get.

He's expected to sweep New Hampshire, by double digits.

NoCoPilot wrote:

I really thought the high turnout of first-time voters would result in a Bernie win.

I had heard several predictions that Clinton would trounce Sanders because of the large number of older voters in the caucus.

Iowa is first, but they're not very important in the larger scheme of things. The Republican machine in Iowa always goes for far right wing evangelicals, the god-vote seems to be their only criterium. This single minded laser focus is not shared by the rest of the country.

Wait, that was SATIRE? I thought it was serious.

Or The Onion.

Or serious. Or Fox.

Yes, it's a tough time to be a satirist. Real Republicans are stupider, weirder and occasionally funnier than anyone could make up.

Straight up piss-taking still works fine, though.

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