Iowa

The Iowa Caucuses makes for good theater if you're a political junkie like me. But in the end, it's analogous to the third NFL preseason game where teams play their starters the majority of the game to effectively gauge how they measure up, and that a loss is not necessarily a death knell.

On the Republican side, Ted Cruz emerged victorious, securing 28% of the vote. Perhaps the most surprising development of the evening was Marco Rubio almost overtaking Donald Trump for second place. Trump eked out the second spot 24%-23%.

Meanwhile, the Democrat side featured pretty much a dead heat between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. And despite a solid one point victory over "Uncommitted," former Maryland governor Martin O'Malley chose to suspend his campaign. As a result, the average age of the lily white Democrat candidates for President of the United States is now 71-years old.

A few other thoughts:

- It's become pretty clear over the past month that the GOP side is a three candidate race among Cruz, Trump and Rubio. However, it appears only Mike Huckabee has the foresight to suspend his campaign. With a disappointing 5 % showing in Iowa, can Rand Paul be far behind? And even though Jeb Bush and John Kasich continue to be non-factors, both seem somewhat emboldened by either a surprising rise in the New Hampshire polls (Jeb!) or endorsements from prominent northeastern and east coast newspapers (Kasich). Hopefully both will be humbled by resounding defeats in New Hampshire next Tuesday.

- Clinton epitomizes the Democrat establishment and has limitless resources at her disposal for this campaign. So what does it say about her "unfavorables" when she is receiving a legit challenge for the Dem nominee from a kooky, 70-something avowed socialist? Leftists love to engage in concern trolling over the GOP being "too extreme" and how Ronald Reagan couldn't even win the presidential nomination in today's Republican party. Classic projection on the Dems' part since they probably know deep down that a John F. Kennedy type wouldn't be a contender in today's Democrat party.

- While I've made no secret of my opposition to Trump, I have no delusion that he's finished despite his disappointing second place finish. With that said, I believe Trump should have put his electoral viability to the ultimate test by enacting the Howard Dean scream at night's end. Alas.

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