The Day After

Wow, just eight votes! That's how many votes Romney beat Santorum by. I would think that was the closest margin in Caucus history, but I may be wrong. The caucus did have a record breaking showing, which was great. Santorum actually won more counties, but Romney won some in the more populated areas. To see the end results, you can check here.

I think a lot of people in other parts of the country were confused by the changes in the front runner  coming into the caucus. In my opinion, it showed that Iowans were paying close attention and not taking the candidates at face value, but rather were researching each candidate. I also think that calling Romney not "conservative enough" backfired. This country doesn't want a far right wing conservative in the White House. It can also be a result of who were asked and what questions they were asked.

The caucus also had the second casualty of the Republican race, Michele Bachmann. I'm not surprised, she had slipped in the polls dramatically since her Straw Poll win. She got only 5% of the votes last night. Even her place of birth, Waterloo, didn't support her.

Rick Perry was thinking of dropping out but then decided not to. I really don't think he'll last after New Hampshire or South Carolina. I'm surprised that he didn't drop out after his disappointing showing last night, coming in at fifth place. I believe that two things sunk his campaign here, his attack ads on the other candidates, Iowans are tired of them, and using the religion card, telling people that he's not afraid to say that he's a Christian. I'm happy for him, but people want to hear realistic solutions for the problems this country is going through and he had none. Making Congress part time is both unrealistic and if I'm correct, the president has no power to do it.

Ron Paul was pleased with his third place showing, which is higher than he showed four years ago. He cannot be counted out. Our county was one that went for Paul.

One thing last night's caucus proved is that this is going to be an interesting quest for the Republican nomination. I wonder who will end up with the prize at the end. We'll just have to wait and see.