Iowa: And So It Begins

As you know, we strive to be a site that specializes in Georgia politics.  That’s different than the politics of Georgians, which opens up all discussions to the national talking points of the day.

That said we’re also a community, and we understand that you fine people still want (for some of you need) to talk Presidential politics.  From time to time we’ll open up a thread or two to let y’all relieve this pressure.  We are, after all, only a month away from Georgia’s Presidential Preference Primary.  I would ask that y’all remember the goal is to be civil when asserting that your candidate was personally chosen by God and whomever you are arguing with is obviously damned to hell for eternity for asserting otherwise.  Or better yet, please try articulating and persuading using logic and reason rather than bolding asserting divine superiority.

With that said, here’s an open thread to discuss Iowa and all things Presidential Primary.  All parties/candidates fair game.

I’ll start with a mostly non-prediction:  I have no idea what’s going on in Iowa.  My gut (and the general consensus of anecdotal data points from my friends and contacts in the business) tell me that Iowa was supposed to be a battle between Trump and Cruz, and Cruz was supposed to win.  Neither has finished strong.  My gut tells me that Cruz has stumbled more and may have given Trump the opening he needs in a state where some ground game establishment is needed.  The upside beneficiary should be Rubio, but I still would be surprised if he finishes higher than third.  But a closer third than I would have expected a week ago.

Iowa and New Hampshire should begin the graceful exit stage for many of the candidates.  Santorum and Huckabee should exit the race by morning.  “Should”.  I’ll go one step farther.  If Jeb isn’t in double digits, he should leave before New Hampshire.  We’ll see how he performs, but I’ll probably expand on that tomorrow.  Not sure what Rand does, but he has a Kentucky race he needs to soon focus on.  Kasich and Christie are banking on NH, so they’ll be with us this week regardless.

Democrats?  I have no idea.  The party that has usually captured the imagination of the country’s youth has played out like two old goats fighting over a turnip.  And then there’s a third guy standing around watching for some reason but no one knows why.  And seeing how bad this field is, it pains me the GOP has squandered a summer that should have been used to articulate a positive message for the future instead of having a significant portion of our party demand we export all the brown people and only allow others in the country if we approve of their God.

That’s my overview as we end the pre-game show and begin putting points on the scoreboard.  I’ll be back in an hour or so and mix it up in the comments section for a little while.