Offering frequent news and analysis from the majestic Evergreen State and beyond, The Cascadia Advocate is the Northwest Progressive Institute's unconventional perspective on world, national, and local politics.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Obama the winner in Iowa, Democratic turnout at the caucuses is huge

Team Obama has won a huge victory in Iowa tonight in an upset over Senator Hillary Clinton, the establishment favorite and autumn frontrunner:
Senator Barack Obama won the Iowa Democratic caucuses tonight in a stunning show of strength by a young African-American candidate who was virtually unknown to America three years ago. He defeated Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, the former first lady, and former Senator John Edwards, the Democrats’ vice presidential nominee in 2004 by a substantial margin.

[...]

The Iowa caucuses drew intense public interest and record turnout on the Democratic side, which featured three compelling candidates waging a fierce campaign that turned on the question of change versus experience. Democratic caucusgoers strongly endorsed Mr. Obama’s vow to change the nature of politics in Washington, decisively preferring his case to Mrs. Clinton’s emphasis on her experience in public life as a senator and the spouse of a president and a governor.
Clinton was also unable to outpace John Edwards, with whom she is virtually tied for second place. Now that her inevitability has been shattered, it'll be interesting to see what happens Tuesday in New Hampshire.

I'm watching Edwards speak live to his supporters now. He's making an effort to link himself and Barack Obama (the winner) by declaring the Iowa results a defeat for the status quo and a victory for change. "We are going to stand up, we are going to rise up, we are going to create an America that we believe in," Edwards said.

UPDATE: Hillary Clinton is speaking now and showing her resolve to stay in the race, but focusing her remarks on the general election.

"We're going to take this enthusiasm right to New Hampshire," Clinton said, praising the high Democratic turnout in Iowa. "I am so proud to have run with such exceptional candidates," she added, praising her competitors and congratulating Senator Barack Obama on his victory.

She seems pretty upbeat despite not having come in first, and her supporters clearly share those feelings - they've broken into Clinton's speech several times already with chants of "Hillary!". I'm guessing that Clinton is going to stay in the hunt at least through Super Tuesday, given her mood tonight...and this statement from her campaign manager:
Clinton called Obama to congratulate him, aides said. Her campaign manager, Patti Solis Doyle, vowed, "This race begins tonight and ends when Democrats throughout America have their say. Our campaign was built for a marathon and we have the resources to run a national race in the weeks ahead."
HIGH TURNOUT: The Iowa Democratic Party is reporting astonishing preliminary numbers with the final count still to come:

"With 96 percent of the precincts reporting we are seeing record turnout with 227,000 caucus attendees."

In 2004, there were only about 125,000 caucusgoers.

Comments:

Blogger Third Rail said...

Check out this awesome Iowa Caucus post mortem analysis at http://thirdrailradio.blogspot.com/2008/01/iowa-caucus-post-mortem.html

January 4, 2008 3:32 AM  

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