While You Were Sleeping
'O' has the mo'
Westmonster turns its head toward America today, as the big political story has Illinois U.S. Senator Barack Obama and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee taking the Iowa Presidential Selection Caucuses on the Democratic and Republican sides, respectively. Democratic Senators Joe Biden (Delaware) and Christopher Dodd (Connecticut) dropped out of the race immediately after the Iowa contest. Now it's onward to New Hampshire's primary next Tuesday.
- The Times' U.S. Editor Gerard Baker perhaps overstates the impact of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton's third-place finish in Iowa, saying she's "in the fight of her life." Westmonster suspects the fight of her life might have happened around 1998 — but only Hillary and Bill know for sure. Mickey Kaus calculates Edwards' second-place finish keeps him in the race, to Hillary's benefit.
- Comment is Free has the transcript of Obama's victory speech, while Slate's John Dickerson comments on Barack's ability to turn out the vote.
- Some people seem to think this is all about race. Westmonster disagrees, but will let you decide for yourselves. Here's Iain, who's all numbers, and here's Dizzy, who takes a much more thoughtful, qualitative approach.
- Oh, and if you were wondering on what this does to the odds, our esteemed friends over at politicalbetting.com are doubling down on last night's winners.
- There's still a Britain, by the way, and news comes by way of ePolitix that Alastair, Darling, is tightening up bank regulations to avoid another Northern Rock catastrophe.
del.icio.us
digg
Facebook
Newsvine
reddit