From Iowa to New Hampshire
The 2012 Iowa Caucus is in the books, and now the candidates are off to New Hampshire.
The night of the results of the Iowa Caucus brought some ironies.
Michele Bachmann gave a speech insisting that she would continue despite a sixth place finish. The next morning he dropped out of the race.
Rick Perry gave a speech saying he would reassess his campaign after a fifth place finish. This was taken as a sign he was dropping out. The next morning he announced on Twitter that he was staying in.
Jon Huntsman did not compete and finished 7th, also known as dead last. He said that nobody cares about Iowa. When Romney received an endorsement from John McCain, Huntsman again pointed out that nobody cares. Somebody needs to look Huntsman in the eye, tell him that we have seen his entire campaign, and after much observing of him, the verdict is in. Nobody cares.
Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum tied for first, and both have momentum going into New Hampshire and South Carolina. As for McCain endorsing Romney, this is not surprising. The establishment tends to back the establishment.
Gingrich was defiant despite his fourth place finish, and is looking toward future debates to resurrect him.
Yet the big story is that 79% of Iowa voters wanted a candidate from Earth. The Martian did not win.
Ron Paul came in third, as the Pauloholics headed to their therapy sessions to understand how this could happen. They astroturfed every message board. They shouted down every person who disagreed with them. They questioned the patriotism of all Americans not in love with Dr. Paul. The Paulbots still cannot understand why attacking people is not the way to win over new converts.
So the Iowa Caucus was a victory for normalcy and sanity. The revolution was not televised, and it never will be.
Naturally the Paulbots will claim victory, but at this point their rhetoric is just boring.
One minute they insist everyone agrees with them and the next minute they condemn those who disagree. One moment they are a revolutionary insurgency, and the next moment they cannot understand why they are seen as outside the mainstream. They cannot decide if they are the outsiders or the establishment.
So congratulations to the nearly 4/5 of Iowa voters who decided to join the anti-lunacy wing of the GOP, known as the other 80%.
The crazies will go to New Hampshire, but by then they will not even be criticized. They will be ignored. Like Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction, that would be the ultimate indignity.
On to New Hampshire. Game on.
eric