While CNN et al. were busy going ga-ga over Mike Huckabee’s trouncing of Mitt Romney et al. on the GOP side, Barack Obama was steadily putting a similar distance between himself and the rest of the Democrats in a state that is almost 95% white. Hopefully this at last provides a definitive answer to the dumbest question still being asked by corporate media: “Is America ready for a black president?” Yes, America is ready. Are the media? Are the other Democrats in the race? And for that matter, is the black Democratic establishment? You’ll all be left behind. Get with the times.

Here is Obama’s compelling Iowa victory speech.

And while the caucus thingie was going on, GOP contender John McCain, who about tied for third among Republicans in Iowa, had something quite startling to say about Iraq while campaigning in New Hampshire today. He interrupted someone recalling that President Bush envisions U.S. forces in Iraq for 50 more years with, “Maybe a hundred [years].” He continued, “That’s fine with me, I hope that would be fine with you, if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where al-Qaeda is training and equipping and recruiting and motivating people every single day.” Video below. Notice that “Independent Democrat” Sen. Joe Lieberman is standing behind him.

David Corn asked McCain about his assertion afterward and says McCain told him American troops “could be in Iraq for ‘a thousand years’ or ‘a million years,’ as far as he was concerned.” Hey, why not shoot for a googolplex, Senator? You gotta think big.

UPDATE 04 JAN 2008: It’s up to ten million years now, per the AP.

ADD’L ADD’L 04 JAN 2008: McCain’s also hip to having Lieberman “play a part” in his cabinet, “particularly in national security issues.”