You'll read about it, watch the news, and discuss the results with people you meet in this historically close race for both parties, as Election 2016 continues in reality show fashion. I still don't see Ted Cruz as the next president. It's not over until it's over. Trump's loss by such a small margin means nothing to me - he still has a chance. Mike Huckabee and O'Malley dropped out. With the Democratic votes so close it will be interesting to see where O'Malley's supporters go.
For Bernie, it was a victory especially as we move to New Hampshire next week which is his territory - home of the nation's first presidential primary. New Hampshire's first primary dates back 100 years, to 1916. To save money, it was held on the same day as the traditional town meeting day - the second Tuesday of March - when local legislative issues were hammered out. Up until 1948, voters picked only delegates to the national conventions. To increase voter interest, presidential candidates were added to the 1952 ballots. That was enough incentive for two senators and White House hopefuls - Robert Taft, Republican of Ohio, and Estes Kefauver, Democrat of Tennessee - to travel across the state canvassing for votes. Taft lost to Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, but Kefauver scored a double-digit win over President Harry Truman, who later dropped out of the race. The trek across the state became a quadrennial winter ritual. In 1975, the nominating contest was moved earlier after neighboring states tried to hold a region wide primary a week earlier than New Hampshire. Today, state law ensures the primary will be held on the Tuesday at least seven days immediately preceding the date on which any other state shall hold a similar election.'
Making Choices in Iowa NY Times - February 2, 2016
After a long year of too much polling, posturing and propaganda, American voters are now at last making choices. The run-up to the Iowa caucuses, which took place on Monday night, shows it's time to move beyond the emotional venting that has been broadly common to both parties, but could not have been more different in the particulars.
