Thursday, January 3rd, 2008
Liveblogging Iowa
Well, here we go. I’m going to try to liveblog the Iowa caucus (The operative word here is “try”).
5:44 PM CST: NBC has devoted the first segment of the nightly news to the caucus. Tim Russert predicts that about 4 big-name candidates will drop out after tonight’s events. Williams and Russert played a bit of “Where’s Rudy?” and suggested that his strategy of Waiting for Florida may be risky. Thank you, Captain Obvious. Williams then showed footage of McCain stumping in Iowa, and a clip from his interview with McCain. Free advertising for McCain?
6:00 PM CST: David Gregory explains the caucus process.
6:27 PM CST: I’ve switched over to MSRNC for coverage of the caucus. Things should be starting soon…
6:30 PM CST: David Shuster analyzes key districts in the caucus: Plymouth county in northwest Iowa for the Republicans - it’s theocrat-heavy, and could be key to a Huckabee victory, and Jasper county in south-central Iowa for the Democrats - it’s been hard hit by economic woes, and thus possibly receptive to Edwards’ populist message.
6:36 PM CST: Idle thought: is there going to be a CNN/YouTube debate in the general election?
6:46 PM CST: Rachael Maddow is on Tweety’s panel, and acquitting herself admirably, as always. Meanwhile, Tweety is openly hating on T3h Clagina, per usual.
7:00 PM CST: Keith Olbermann and the Republican caucus begin at the same time. Olbermann reports that “entrance poll” results indicate Clinton and Obama are leading the Dems, and Huckabee and Romney lead the Rethugs.
7:13 PM CST: Timmeh said to watch who the independent voters decide to caucus with, as that may portend which way Iowa will go in the general election.
7:15 PM CST: Timmeh and Keith speculate on The Ron Paul Factor™.
7:17 PM CST: Olbermann reports that turnout has been unexpectedly high - some caucus locations don’t have enough room to hold all attendees.
7:30 PM CST: Since the Republican caucus is run a bit differently from the Democratic version - more like a straw poll than an actual caucus - we should be getting the results from the Rethugs any minute now.
7:34 PM CST: MSRNC airs the Chuck Norris/Honda Ridgeline commercial.
7:37 PM CST: First hard results: Dems - with 8% reporting, Edwards 35%, Clinton 32%, Obama 30%; Rethugs - with 2% reporting, Huckabee 33%, Romney 24%, Thompson 18%.
7:52 PM CST: New results are in. Dems - with 21% of precincts reporting, Edwards 34%, Clinton and Obama tied at 32%; Rethugs - with 15% of precincts reporting, Huckabee 36%, Romney 23%, Thompson 14%.
8:00 PM CST: NBC calls the Iowa caucus for Huckabee on the Rethuglican side. Still no clear winner on the Democratic side - Obama has just squeezed into the lead, with Clinton and Edwards fighting for second.
8:10 PM CST: With 47% of precincts reporting, Obama has 34%, Edwards and Clinton each have 32%. Interestingly, at this point, Edwards is barely edging out Clinton in delegates won - 303 for Edwards versus 301 for Clinton.
8:17 PM CST: With 54% of precincts reporting, Obama is still leading at 34%, Edwards is still at 32%, and Clinton is starting to fall behind - 31%.
8:23 PM CST: With 62% of precincts reporting, Obama has expanded his lead to 35%-31%-31%. Edwards still leads Clinton in total number of delegates won - 415-411
8:25 PM CST: NBC calls the Iowa caucus for Obama.
8:29 PM CST: Tweety tries to use the fact that African-American men got the right to vote before all women as mirroring Obama’s projected victory over Clinton and that America prefers blacks over women. I have to object to that assertion in that Clinton is perhaps not the best representative of a female candidacy.
8:31 PM CST: Tweety has brought on Giuliani to blather about the implication of Huckabee’s projected victory.
8:37 PM CST: As an Edwards supporter, I must admit that it’s somewhat disappointing to see Edwards ekeing out a second place finish in Iowa. However, I think that this is going to boost his standing, even among the “librul” media that just flat out ignored him, when they weren’t laughing at him. And that will definately help in the upcoming primaries. And since Hillary was expected to walk away with the nomination, starting with Iowa, her third place finish is really going to hurt her campaign, in spite of whatever spin she tries to put on it. We’ve still got a long way to go in the nomination process folks - anything can happen.
8:44 PM CST: Tom Brokaw mentioned that a lot of independents were caucusing with the Democrats this time. Perhaps, as Tim Russert suggested earlier (see the 7:13 PM update), the independents are going to tilt towards the Democrats this time around.
9:08 PM CST: I just had a thought. Huckabee’s victory is going to make Pillz-E’s head a-splode, given how frequently and virulently the Oxycontin Junkie has been attacking the former Arkansas governor.
9:23 PM CST: I know I’m biased in this regard, but Edwards just gave an excellent speech.
