It has begun...

The silly season has officially started now after the Iowa Caucuses that took place last night. On the democratic side, Obama took the night over Edwards and Clinton. Clinton and Edwards were pretty much ties, with Edwards taking a few extra delegates than Hillary. Of course, this was heralded around the country as Hillary being defeated big time in Iowa, which is really laughable, mostly because even though Obama received slightly more delegates, Clinton and Edwards were essentially tied, and Obama wasn't that far ahead at the end of the night. The top 3 candidates each took about a 3rd of the vote.

Now over on the republican side we had Huckabee romping all over Romney, which I liked to see happen actually. Why? Well, even though every single Mormon I have ever met has been a super nice person, Romney seems to be the exception to this rule. And I just found it ironic that he dumped a ton of money into Iowa, and was beat down by someone who spent a mere fraction of what he spent in the same State, and has only really been campaigning for a short while now. There is something in me that just wants to see Mitt get the beat down and not win a single primary in any State. Well, he might take Massachusetts, but by that point in time, it might be a moot point anyway.

The thing that makes me laugh, being originally from Maine, and sort of knowing how our neighbors to the West in New Hampshire think, is that all of these pundits are talking about how Mitt is going to probably take New Hampshire because he's from Massachusetts, which as we know, borders New Hampshire. Apparently, these people spouting this misinformation don't know anyone from the State of New Hampshire (Live Free or Die), or have even really talked to anyone from New Hampshire. Because aside from the Red Sox, and the New England Patriots, people from New Hampshire HATE people and things from Massachusetts (except for the aforementioned 2 things, oh and maybe the Celtics, and the Bruins, but that's about it). Mitt is going to get beat down again in New Hampshire, and will probably fall to McCain, and then Mitt will come in far behind McCain, but not that far ahead of Huckabee. Am I discounting Rudy G? Of course. I think people in New Hampshire are far too smart, and classy, to vote for that snake. Rudy is banking everything on Super Tuesday, and I can't wait for that to blow up in his face. It's going to be astonishing to watch really.

For the Democrats, I think that it's going to be tight again in New Hampshire. Clinton, or Obama will take the State, and Edwards will roll in second place no matter who wins. There's a good chance that Edwards might just finish second right on down the line, which will place him in a good position to once again run in the VP slot in the general election. I wouldn't be surprised if Edwards TOOK New Hampshire though. Wouldn't surprise me at all. His talk about "the working man" and the middle class should resonate around New Hampshire, being that they are a fairly middle class State, and there are still a good number of unions up in the Northeastern part of the country, and I think his rhetoric will resound with a lot of voters in New Hampshire. We'll see what shakes loose come next Tuesday for sure.

All I can say is that I'm glad this process has started, and that maybe we can get down to the real issues, the real things to talk about, and we can get a President who can start cleaning up the mess left by the current occupant of the White House.