Politico

The 2016 Iowa Caucus results turned out great for Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. People like Ben Carson, Donald Trump and Rand Paul also felt ok about their numbers. They could have been better, but could have been worse. Then there is Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Chris Christie who officially didn't really care about what they got here, as they focused on New Hampshire. But it must have hurt them. And then there is Jim Gilmore, Martin O'Malley, Carly Fiorina, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee. They were demolished, and for Huckabee and O'Malley it was a knockout. Huckabee's exit leaves the race with 11 Republicans, if you can count Gilmore at all, while O'Malley's exit leaves just Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders on the side of the Democrats.





Huckabee's poor results were expected, and thus his exit is not a big surprise. What is a surprise is that Rick Santorum didn't go down with him, even though he had an even smaller support. Huckabee famously won Iowa in 2008, but ever since then he lost his touch with the state. He failed to register this time around both here and nationally, and that meant low fundraising numbers and relegation to the second tier debate. Not good signs. 8 years ago he was the Evangelical's man, this time around Cruz had a stronger appeal to them. It was actually kind of sad to see him be so disconnected. Everyone knew it, even him, but no one dared to say it out loud. Trump and Cruz, the political outsiders destroyed him, right at the beginning. He never gave up, but the magic never came.





Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's exit, leaves 11 Republican contenders as the race moves to New Hampshire. He hasn't endorsed anyone yet, but his minimal support will probably split about even between Cruz and Trump. Maybe Santorum, but Santorum's campaign is all but officially over too. He is expected to drop out too soon, along with a few other candidates. The Republican race has pretty much narrowed down to Trump, Cruz and Rubio. It is hard to see anyone else join them. Maybe Kasich, but that is a big maybe. Bush is even a bigger maybe. New Hampshire will decide a lot of things.





Politico

On the Democrat's side, former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley quit the race too, after a disappointing show. The highest he ever polled was 8%, but on average he was around 4%, so he never really got on. Bernie Sanders swept away the show from him. O'Malley has been polling higher on average in New Hampshire, but his departure is no surprise, as it is virtually impossible now to compete with Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. He could eventually end up as VP candidate, but that is unlikely. He is though thought of as a potential cabinet member, in both a Sanders or Clinton administration.





O'Malley is the 4th candidate on the Democrat's side who quit the race, after Lincoln Chafee, Jim Webb and Lawrence Lessig. It is now a two-way race between Vermont Senator and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and it is not expected that the race will be over soon. O'Malley's supporters are minimal, but in such a close race, it will be enough to tip the bar over for one candidate in a two person race. His supporters will split quite evenly among Clinton and Sanders, but most people think that eventually Sanders will pick up the bigger support, as O'Malley supporters are not big fans of "establishment" candidates like Hillary Clinton. But New Hampshire is clearly Bernie territory, so O'Malley's impact will probably not be a big factor till Nevada or South Carolina, unless he decides to endorse someone now. But there is no indication of that for now.





New Hampshire decides on February 9th, we'll be back!





This is an original material of Finchley 1959.