by our US correspondent Reinout van Wagtendonk
04-01-2008
The race to win party nominations to run for the US presidential election later this year got off to a surprising start. For the first time since 1928, no incumbent president or vice president is running - so the field is wide open. Iowa held the first poll, or 'caucus' as it's also known, with Mike Huckabee winning the Republican vote, while on the Democrat side Barack Obama came out on top.
Democrat John Edwards summed up the message delivered by the voters in Iowa:
"The thing that's clear from the results in Iowa tonight is that the status quo lost and change won."
Obama's appeal to young voters
Barack Obama is the new face symbolizing Edwards' words. Obama is the first black candidate in US history with such an impressive opening in a presidential contest, the more impressive because it came in a 95 percent white State. Obama was the overwhelming choice of younger voters, which indicates that his victory may be the harbinger of a generational shift away from the old political guard.
"You have done what America can do in this New Year 2008. In lines that stretched around schools and churches, in small towns and big cities, you came together as Democrats, Republicans and Independents to stand up and say that we are one nation, we are one people, and our time for change has come."
Hillary Clinton fares badly
John Edwards came in second in Iowa, but the really big news is Hillary Clinton's third place. Until a couple of months ago she seemed the inevitable winner of the Democratic presidential nomination. Now she seems more vulnerable than ever.
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Click to listen to the report (3' 32")
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When she spoke to her supporters in Iowa, we had Bill Clinton standing over one shoulder, and President Clinton's former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright standing over the other. Very much a picture of the 1990's - no fresh faces, no new blood. Hillary tried to make the best of the results by calling them great for the Democratic Party, because they point, she said, to the inevitable victory of the eventual Democratic presidential candidate in November.
"I am so ready for the rest of this campaign, and I am so ready to lead."
But in spite of her optimism, that candidate might not be Hillary Clinton. It could be Barack Obama. Next Tuesday, in the primary elections in New Hampshire, if Hillary Clinton loses again to Obama, she has a real problem. The voters in New Hampshire will have confirmed then that they too want to try something new.
Republicans too vote for change
On the Republican side Mike Huckabee surprised. He was also a candidate long ignored by the old guard in his party, also somebody different from the status quo. Huckabee had hundreds of thousands of dollars to spend in his campaign, against the many millions of Mitt Romney, the more conventionally conservative Republican candidate.
Romney's defeat is a stinging setback for him, but because two other prominent Republican candidates, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain chose not to compete seriously in Iowa, Republican results draw less dramatic news coverage and analysis than Barack Obama's clear victory over Hillary Clinton.
Tags:
Barack Obama,
caucus,
Hillary Clinton,
Iowa,
Mike Huckabee,
presidential election,
US
Evert C. Weidner ,
04-01-2008
- USA
All I can say is that David Hillard, SR will surely not vote for Barak Obama, but hope many others will, as the 95% white and independent population of Iowa, young and old, also have done.
David Hillard SR,
04-01-2008
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All that means Obama goes into this state's compressed contest with a target on his back a situation he has managed to avoid due to media bias against Clinton. "Obama, through an unprecedented convergence of luck has never before faced serious attack yet, now he's earned the right to be mercilessly scrubbed and scrutinized. Will show he is something of a phony, someone whose lofty rhetoric isn't born out in his own public record. His lack of foreign policy experience and showing he isn’t ready to lead in a dangerous world. His votes in the Senate to fund the Iraq war even as he tried to position himself as the strongest anti-war candidate will finally come into play nationally; facts show he always supports the war, voted twice in 2006 against bringing America's troops back home. Votes for war appropriations giving our money to Halliburton and Blackwater. Voted with Bush on posturing S 433 which allows the Bush Admin to suspend any troop withdrawal! keeps our troops in Iraq for a long time to come? Record also shows Obama faced with tough choices always gave in to pressure from Bush admin and corporate lobbyists. Obama voted for Bush's energy bill, sending more than $13 billion in subsidies and tax breaks to oil, coal, and nuclear companies. Obama voted with Republicans to allow credit card companies to raise interest rates over 30 percent, increasing hardship for families. "He talks about change but has no real record of making change. Lastly his use of the race card will not play well nationally…
Third Rail,
3rdrailradio@gmail.com,
04-01-2008
- USA
Check out this awesome Iowa Caucus post mortem analysis at http://thirdrailradio.blogspot.com/2008/01/iowa-caucus-post-mortem.html
