Huckabee, Obama Win Iowa Caucuses

Edwards Second, Clinton Third Among Dems; Romney Second For GOP

(CBS/AP) 
"Young and first-time voters delivered for Obama as his campaign predicted, and change was the number one concern of over half of Democratic caucus goers, creating the conditions for his victory," Ververs added. "His campaign now heads to New Hampshire with momentum, a state loaded with Independent voters who can now visualize him as a winner."

Projections estimated that 220,588 Democrats showed up on a cold midwinter's night, shattering the previous mark of 124,000.

Romney sought to paint his defeat in a positive light, saying he had trailed Huckabee by more than 20 points a few weeks ago. "I've been pleased that I've been able to make up ground and I intend to keep making up ground, not just here but across the country," he said. (Romney video)

The words were brave, but already his strategy of bankrolling a methodical campaign in hopes of winning the first two states was in tatters - and a rejuvenated McCain was tied with him in the polls in next-up New Hampshire.

Iowans rendered their judgments in meetings at 1,781 precincts from Adel to Zwingle, in schools, firehouses and community centers where the candidates themselves could not follow.

While Republicans and Democrats both looked to Iowa to pass the first judgment of the election year, there was a key difference in the way they ran their caucuses. Republicans took a straw vote, then tallied the results. Democrats had a more complicated process in which one candidate's supporters might eventually wind up backing another contender.

Obama and Clinton each sought to make history, he the most viable black presidential candidate in history, she a former first lady bidding to become the first female commander in chief. Edwards battled them to a standstill, fighting to improve on the second-place finish in the 2004 caucuses that was good enough to land him the vice presidential slot on the Democratic ticket.

As Obama stressed a need for change, Clinton boasted of her experience and Edwards cast himself as the implacable enemy of special interests.

Romney stressed his background as a businessman and organizer of the 2002 Olympics, and he worked to persuade conservatives to ignore his earlier positions on abortion and gay rights. He ran the only commercials of the campaign critical of a rival, hitting Huckabee for his positions on immigration and the pardons he issued while governor of Arkansas.

Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, pinned his hopes on evangelical conservatives.

At stake Thursday night in Iowa were 45 delegates to the Democratic National Convention next summer in Denver and 37 to the GOP gathering in St. Paul, Minn. But that was hardly the reason the crowded field of presidential hopefuls devoted weeks of campaigning, built muscular campaign organizations and spent millions of dollars on television advertising in the state.

For three decades, Iowa's caucuses have drawn presidential hopefuls eager to make a strong first impression, and this year was no exception.

Obama, Clinton and Edwards spent at least $19 million on television advertising between them, and all three capped their campaigns with statewide broadcasts on Wednesday. Romney told supporters in a final daylong swing around the state he had been in 68 of 99 counties since he began his quest for the White House, had spent 55 days in Iowa and spoken before 248 separate audiences.

[candide777]

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! GET RID OF THESE ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS, NOW!
Posted by bhappy2-2 at 03:57 PM : Jan 06, 2008

Don''t worry, be happy. :-)

Seriously, you are what''s wrong with this country -- the republicans tell you who to scapegoat and you drink it up like ice tea on a hot summer day. It''s the republican politicians who have and continue to ruin this country with their insatiable greed and their treasonous lies. Wake up and smell the coffee, *******.

[bhappy2-2]

What we need is a candidate that supports AMERICA. We have had plenty of politicians who support ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS. We need to start DEPORTING ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS and HEAVILY FINE those who support ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS. We MUST SECURE OUR BORDERS and rid OUR COUNTRY of these parasitic ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS. If our politicians refuse to do so WE, THE CITIZENS OF AMERICA, need to REPLACE the treasonous politicians with ones who SUPPORT AMERICA. Failure to act now could result in The United States of America becoming North Mexico. They have an army here already, they only need to arm them. Those who claim "they don''''t want to take over" need to look around, see the way they have ALREADY TAKEN OVER our jobs.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! GET RID OF THESE ILLEGAL ALIEN INVADERS, NOW!

[candide777]

And jon, you''''d better be right that God doesn''''t exist.
Because when you die, it''''s too late to change your mind.
Posted by singinrick at 06:10 PM : Jan 04, 2008

Ah, there in lies the reason behind Rick''s ridiculous superstitions: fear. Fear that there just might really be a god who is so cruel as to punish him for an eternity simply for demanding a scintilla of evidence that he exists before believing. The truth is, Rick, you can''t be scared into believing something that you don''t believe. Even if your god really existed, he would see right through your false "belief" in him. You, Rick, like everyone else, demand evidence of what you believe in. But like the townspeople who all claimed to see the beautiful clothes on the Emperor who had none, you are too afraid to admit to us, to yourself and to your god, that you really don''t believe in him. You have fallen for a huge lie simply because you are a coward. Now, why don''t you do something useful like go pray that god strikes me dead for calling you what you really are.

[kevkevsuperrev]

Is it fair that the Jewish controlled media can refuse Ron Paul the free attention that the war mongering candidates get? The only problem with Obama is that he is young and will be easily controlled by the lobbyists. We need someone in the White house that will stand up to AIPAC. We witness every day what happens when the Zionists sink their jaws into a weak presidents neck. Remember, bush ran on the "no nation building" policy. Now look at the countries we are in, trying to influence their politics with the blood of our soldiers.

Won''t it be a site for sore eyes to see the "Muslim" Obama standing at the podium at AIPAC wearing a little beanie cap?

I can see it now:

Pakistan: we are in shambles!
Obama: How many troop you beez needin?

Israel: $3 billion a year isn''t enough!
Obama: Well, Let''s tax my Americans out of existence then!

China: How about some more of that American technology?
Obama: Night vision, stealth, turret stabilization?

Russia: Thanks for the petroleum processing technology!
Obama: No problem, our oil companies have unemployment insurance!

[sgtrds]

You know you can''''t win an argument with an idiot like swingingdick don''''t you? I mean the guy starts out from a belief in creationism, which proves he has no capability of critical thought. He thinks the world is slightly more then 6000 years old (which would be a surprise to the civilizations like the Chinese and Egyptians who have much longer histories then that) and when you point out how ridiciulous that is he stamps his foot like a little child and insists it''''''''s true because his book of fairy tales tell him so. When you point out that his book of fairy tales can not possibly be right he again stamps his foot like a child and leaps right into circular logic by repeating quotes to you from that same book of fairy tales that claim what''''s in it is true because it says it is.

He''''s a nut.

Posted by singinrick at 06:17 PM : Jan 04, 2008

Thanks for re-posting it ricky! I thought it was one of my better ones too. Thanks again!

[sgtrds]

LOL. Doesn''''t Singinrick have anything better to do with his time? Dude relax.

Posted by bud28dy at 06:35 PM : Jan 04, 2008

His hysteria is nearly as bad as his persecution complex.........sounds like he''s just about to go off the deep end, grab a rifle and head to the tallest steeple to start shooting.

[sgtrds]

singinrick wrote: "You act like we have some agenda of "gaining recruits" or something."

Yeah, it''''s called proselytizing, and while some religions don''''t do it, Christians do.

Posted by pakaal at 06:55 PM : Jan 04, 2008

RAmen.

[starleo146]

Huckabee is a good man but a president he will not be Sorry. No money to keep up in a national presidential race. He just will not make it. You can only pick a bass so long and entertain the voters sometime you have to speak about the issues. Evangelical Baptist in the south will rally for him but I do not think he will make it

[pakaal]

singinrick wrote: "You act like we have some agenda of "gaining recruits" or something."

Yeah, it''s called proselytizing, and while some religions don''t do it, Christians do.

[pakaal]

singinrick wrote: "Funny how you slide out of the fact that I did comment on this story and it was the usual atheists who come on here and play their "let''''s assault a Christian" games which is part of their daily childish routine. Please read."

You did, but more than 20 pages ago, as I wrote. Please read.

Huck has made religion the centerpiece of his campaign, and it served him well in Iowa. I doubt if it''s going to do him nearly as much good nationwide, and even if it does, it will most likely be eclipsed by much larger turnout on the Democrat side, as (again) we saw in Iowa.

If Huckabee wants to make religion the center of his campaign, then he should expect people to question it, and comment on it. And comments boards here are going to reflect that.

As for your own problems on the CBS boards, well that''s a combination of your high-profile commentary, the fact that it''s a PUBLIC forum, and also to a great extent IMO it''s because many people are tired of being told what''s right and wrong from people of a religious faith that''s really no better or worse than any other, except in their own minds.

[bud28dy]

LOL. Doesn''t Singinrick have anything better to do with his time? Dude relax.

[sgtrds]

jon2012

Bravo! Well said!

[jon2012-2009]

It''''''''s used to accuse us Christians of "pushing" our beliefs onto people but this is the furthest thing from the truth because we will never, I repeat NEVER force anyone to become a Christian.

We just love sharing the Good News. And by the way, being able to have eternal life just by trusting in Jesus Christ is good news.
--singinrick
Posted by ilikecats1 at 02:13 PM : Jan 04, 2008

Let me address this construction of targeting would-be converts as simply "spreading the good news." First of all, it isn''t news in the sense of an objective event that actually happened with eyewitness accounts. The eyewitness accounts in this case turn out to be from the same reporters, long since dead, who are making the case that the events did actually happen. There is no separation between eyewitness accounts and a disengaged third party to deliver the reports.

The other thing is that "spreading the news" is just an attempt to gain converts into a belief system. Under the cover of free exercise of religion, anybody is fair game for recruitment, regardless of their level of intelligence and maturity. Fairy tale or not, the prospect of punishment in hell by a God that only exists in the shadows of incomplete knowledge is still quite compelling, especially among the ignorant and superstitious.

[quetzal666]

woop shouldnt have wrote that, wheres the delete function.....sorry

[quetzal666]

his gut is even bigger.....
too many pork chops in dem hills over texas!!!

[sgtrds]

Have to note the hypocrisy in posting that, considering you''''ve been talkiing about verbal attacks on yourself for like, 20 pages as far as I can tell reading back, with nothing about, you know, the CBS story you''''re posting comments in.

Posted by pakaal at 05:00 PM : Jan 04, 2008

He has one of the worst victim complexes I''ve ever seen. the whole world is supposed to revolve around him and his view of religion. Anyone outside of that image he has of himself is thought of as somehow attacking him personally and he whines. His ego is HUGE!

[pakaal]

singinrick wrote: "And if you are that immature that you boost your ego from a silly internet message forum on the internet to make you feel better about yourself, than that''''s your problem."

Have to note the hypocrisy in posting that, considering you''ve been talkiing about verbal attacks on yourself for like, 20 pages as far as I can tell reading back, with nothing about, you know, the CBS story you''re posting comments in.

[quetzal666]

told ya hes a martyr with a loaded cross!!!

[sgtrds]

hey this has turened into a Rcky boo hoo haaa,,
isnt the thread about politics?

Posted by Quetzal666 at 04:53 PM : Jan 04, 2008

Ricky excels at turning any thread into a forum for him to preach his bizarre form of right wing religion.

[quetzal666]

hey this has turened into a Rcky boo hoo haaa,,
isnt the thread about politics?