Trump Won Iowa, Sanders Proves Socialism Okay

Nobody really wants to hear me say this, but I have to keep it SquareBiz for those of you who need it.

Trump won Iowa.

No really.

Trump won Iowa, and it wasn't even close.  Well, it was close, but not in the way that you think. Iowa is AS full of religious fundamentalism as any state in the union.  Not only is Iowa full of it (so to speak), it is full of religico's who are highly politically active as well- possibly more so than any other fundamentalist spot in America.

In other words, betting Ted Cruz to win in Iowa would have been a wasted bet in Vegas because you would have had to put down $3,000 just to win $100.  I just made up those odds, but you get my point.  Iowa chose Mike Huckabee two cycles ago, and Rick Santorum during the last presidential election primary/caucus season. because the Tea Party has owned Iowa for some time now.

Polls might have threatened to hand Iowa to Trump, but they didn't have a great way of knowing who would actually leave their home and caucus for Trump.

Now we know, and the numbers are staggering.

Cruz might have stopped Trump from finishing on top like he claims he always does, but he barely kept Iowa from shifting itself away from its religious roots and firmly into the area of social dissent with many other parts of the American electorate.

If there is any reason for Marco Rubio to be doing victory laps over a third place finish (and there is), Trump has just as much a cause for applause for finishing second in a place that his heathen arse should have never finished so high, but he did.

Without the benefit of a real ground game in a state that he knew would be a waste of money to fight in, Trump still came up second.  Cruz committed mightily to the outcome he got, and should also consider the Rubio result to be a considerable challenge to his evangelical claim over the GOP.  As for ground game, the same could be said for Clinton who had a representative in each of Iowa's 1681 democrat caucusing precincts.

Hillary and Cruz worked like crazy to insure the Iowa outcomes that they sorely needed.  Trump and Bernie Sanders will be hard to beat in New Hampshire, so a loss in Iowa too would have been a rough start for Hillary, too rough in fact for either to allow for such an outcome.  So she didn't lose, and neither did Cruz. 

But they almost did.

Did Cruz win by a wide enough margin to celebrate?

Rubio can feel happy about the large portions of Cruz's voters that had to be a part of the results he enjoyed last night.  Yet if Rubio has any legitimacy to his joy (and he does), than Trump and Sanders should be sipping champagne too.

From my perspective, they answered the question of how loud will the voice of the angry populist actually be in this upcoming election.  Will unusual voters show up to do something that they've rarely done before?


After our first sampling, it is clear that they will be pretty damn loud if we heard their voices all the way from fundamentalist Iowa. 

Pretty damn loud indeed.

News Flash: Huckabee Racing To Campaign On Davis

Mike Huckabee has been vocally using Kim Davis to do a reset on his candidacy, so this really wise judge, who put Davis in jail with no bail to begin with, is letting her out before Mike Huckabee can use her for further grand standing.

On a brighter note.  Kim Davis is polling at 7% support, twice that of Mike Huckabee and several other GOP presidential hopefuls.

If you can't cherry pick from Donald Trump's supporters then you settle for the Kim Davis voters.

One reporter for MSNBC, when confronted with
the details from this poll, seemed hard pressed to agree with the numbers as she stood out in front of the Kentucky County detention center with throngs of Kim Davis supporters, not realizing that the nearly all of the 7% were the throngs surrounding her.

Pursuit of the Presidency: "Uncle Sugar", Mike Huckabee, Rises To The Top Of GOP Race

Political prognostication is an evolving industry.  Back in the day, cable networks across the nation were flooded with mystical offerings like the famous Miss Cleo.  Sure, there are those who like the fun and intrigue of a good reading, but most people find it to be nothing more than entertainment, much like what we do everyday in professional sports.  The Miss Cleo's of modern political punditry are finding a similar demand to this mystical mayhem of old.

And what does Miss Cleo say about the prospects for the next republican presidential candidate?

Right now Uncle Sugar has taken a lead in the conservative run at the presidency.  Miss Cleo reserves the right to change her visionary prediction (as poll numbers change), but right now, Mike "Uncle Sugar" Huckabee has taken the lead.

Few would have expected him to even gain support for the presidency after failed attempts in the past.  In a recent speech, Huckabee denounces women who can't control their libido enough to pay for their own birth control without the help from Uncle Sugar. This statement got as much notice from those who support his thoughts as it did from those who never met their uncle named sugar.

For the laymen who did not catch his coin of phrase, Uncle is a reference to Uncle Sam and Sugar is a reference to the term Sugar Daddy, a man who pays a woman (non-prostitute) for her time and wares. What he did not quite realize is that whoever takes over the role of president becomes the embodiment of this mythical "Uncle Sugar" that he speaks of.  If Huckabee seeks to become president, he will also become Uncle Sugar.

Since those who actually respond to polls will segment their support from the list of the most likely's, no one candidate has gained a larger percentage than the 14% support that Uncle Sugar possesses.  I have seen polls that show Mitt Romney at or near the top (14%-15%), but no one yet believes that Ann Romney will let him run again. However, the mere notion that Uncle Sugar is leading the pre-preseason race speaks to the most resounding force in the republican party right now.

The religious right is ready to place its fingerprint on this race.  They are tired of losing with left leaning candidates because invariably, you will look back on your failures and always wonder if the compromise was the cause.  A moderate candidate might just make it through again, simply because prudence dictates these things, but this will be a bruising battle to win the party nomination.

Uncle Sugar might appeal to Tea Party religiosity, but he does not seem equipped to raise the money it takes to give more bruising then you take in a primary battle, and comes off as a bit too sour to become that sweet uncle we depend on to support our pleasures.

Next Post:  Pursuit of the Presidency: Rand Paul, The Libertarian Champion