Keeping the Washington interests out of his campaign? Perhaps not, and this is something I’m keeping an eye on…especially since ethanol is widely seen as a boondoggle.
From NY Times…
Mr. Obama is running as a reformer who is seeking to reduce the influence of special interests. But like any other politician, he has powerful constituencies that [...]

Obama - 49%
McCain - 45%
Another key swing state poll shows it up for grabs.
Here are some gender breakdowns…
Gender - Male
McCain - 56%
Obama - 39%
Gender - Female
Obama - 59%
McCain - 34%
As we can see, Obama and McCain are taking women and men by fairly large margins, but McCain has 8 more points to make up among [...]

I talked about one of Edwards’ switchers earlier, and now 6 out of the 8 from South Carolina and 1 from Iowa have announced they’re backing Obama.
They are…

Daniel Boan, South Carolina
Christine Brennan-Bond, South Carolina
Robert Groce, South Carolina
Susan Smith, South Carolina
Mike Evatt, South Carolina
Lauren Bilton, South Carolina
Machelle Crum, Iowa

This has the net effect of him winning [...]

And Clinton’s gains in Pennsylvania continue to dwindle.
First, a key endorsement from Kentucky congressman Ben Chandler…
Chandler will announce his support for Obama at a midday news conference in downtown Louisville. Chandler represents a central Kentucky district and carries one of the most famous names in Kentucky politics.
The endorsement means Obama will have the backing of [...]

Seems like a lot of Edwards’ supporters jumped on the Barack bandwagon.
From TPM:
The Iowa caucuses might have been over two months ago, but Barack Obama is still making gains off of them. In today’s Iowa county Democratic conventions — which those caucus delegates were elected to participate in — Obama picked up the votes of [...]

Well, sort of.
John Tomlin shot a lot of video in Iowa and captured some candid, goofy moments.

Man, Romney is just an awkward guy…

An honest-to-goodness phenomenon?
The turnout of young voters for Obama has already gotten a lot of attention, and deservedly so. After the 2006 election I wrote a post that was dismissive of the supposed uptick in youth voting, but a couple of critical emails prompted me to revisit the subject and I ended up changing my [...]

It’s true that Iowa doesn’t always pick the eventual nominee, but for her staff to come out and dismiss Iowa as a backwater is very bad form.
From WSJ:
After pouring millions of dollars and nearly a year of effort into a win in Iowa, senior staffers for Democrat Hillary Clinton now say the state isn’t that [...]

Check out this video clip.

It’s all about GET OUT THE VOTE. Barack has proven he can do it, and then some.

This podcast covers the results of the Iowa Caucuses. We discuss the significance of Huckabee’s victory, the state of the Republican race after Iowa and we also dissect Obama’s victory and analyze the rest of the Democratic race.
[Listen Online]
[Subscribe to 2008Central.net's Presidential Election Podcast]
Feel free to email us questions/suggestions for next week’s podcast (you [...]

I can’t find Huckabee’s anywhere, but when I do I’ll post it for you.
Until then, check this out.

I thought it was pretty good. He definitely sounded presidential and pushed the hope message, positioned him as the underdog and did all the things he should do with a speech like this.
What do you think?

He beat McCain, 29% to 21%.
But with voters who identified themselves as Republicans, he pulled in 7%. Only Giuliani did worse, with 4%. I’m not counting Hunter, since I think 3 people voted for him tonight.
By the way, 81% of the voters were Republicans and 13% were Independents.
What does this tell you Paulites? Well, your [...]

The Delaware Senator is out. No surprise there. I’m watching his speech right now, and it’s a good one. Very frank, very natural, very Biden.
Bill Richardson should be following shortly. Not that I know he’ll drop out, but after you get 2% in Iowa, you have to think it’s time to close up shop.

This from Marc Ambinder:
REVOLUTION FOR CHANGE BEGINS? ON STRENGTH OF NEW CAUCUS GOERS, YOUNG VOTERS AND INDEPENDENTS…..OBAMA WINS DEMOCRATIC CAUCUSES……..CLINTON BRACES FOR PRESS BACKLASH…..EDWARDS CAMPAIGN SPINS RESULTS AS REPUDIATION OF STATUS QUO.
** Obama beats Clinton among women and men ** Late deciders throw support to Obama, Edwards ** 41% of Obama’s caucus goers were new [...]

He really underperformed here, even though he moved his entire family here last year. But the other second tier candidates didn’t do much better. You should see Biden and Richardson dropping out soon enough too.
We shall see…

Fred Thompson and John McCain are virtually tied with 14% apiece, and they’re pulling away from Ron Paul. Looks like he’ll end up with 10% of the vote, which is respectable, but we all know he was hoping for a lot more.
Still, he should be included in any forum or debate from here on out. [...]

Mike Huckabee: 34% (35,621)
Mitt Romney: 25% (26,524)
Fred Thompson: 13% (13,932)
John McCain: 13% (13,693)
Ron Paul: 10% (10,184)
Rudy Giuliani: 4% (3,613)

These are the FINAL official numbers. Big win for Obama.
Senator Barack Obama: 37.58%
Senator John Edwards: 29.75%
Senator Hillary Clinton: 29.47%
Governor Bill Richardson: 2.11%
Senator Joe Biden: 0.93%
Uncommitted: 0.14%
Senator Chris Dodd: 0.02%
Precincts Reporting: 1781 of 1781
Courtesy of IowaCaucusResults.com

Giuliani has just shot up and is neck and neck and neck and neck with Thompson, McCain and Ron Paul. In fact, of the 4, he’s in the 3rd spot, with Paul trailing by 1%. This is with 41% reporting.

With 69% reporting, Obama has 35%, and Edwards and Hillary are tied with 31%.
My take? If Obama can raise that number to 39% and push Hillary and Edwards down to 29%…that’s big news. If it stays this close, it will be a HUGE story for Obama, but this doesn’t push Hillary out. Edwards, however, would [...]