Thankfully, without cable, i didn't get sucked into watching C-SPAN for the entire evening. I just waited for the blogs to post the end result. So much less aggravating.

Apparently, it was a huge turnout for the Democrats. 218,000 to the Republicans' 115,000. That's pretty damned impressive. Unlike here in Jersey where you go into a polling location, cast your vote, and go home, these people had to basically give up a significant portion of their evening to sit at a caucus location and wrangle with other people to try to get them to vote for their candidate. I don't even like discussing politics with friends and family if we don't agree on most issues. Why the hell would i do it with strangers?

If having to sit in a room and argue with a bunch of strangers isn't a big enough deterrent, how about the weather? I don't know exactly what the weather in Iowa was yesterday, but i know damn well it was 20deg in Jersey with the sun out. 15 at night. And looking at their temps this morning (24degF), i'm willing to bet it was pretty damned cold in Iowa yesterday. So, for once, the Dems did something right. Yay, you.

Obama swept with 37.58%. Edwards squeaked past Clinton with 29.75% to her 29.47% (i stole the numbers from Kos). According to a co-worker, in the half hour he watched CNN this morning, they didn't once mention Edwards coming in second. Until i told him the results, he assumed Clinton had been second based on how CNN was reporting it. They have been putting alot of effort into portraying the primaries as a fight between Obama and Clinton alone, so i guess they didn't have a graphic of Edwards prepared. The one key issue CNN did make sure my coworker got loud and clear though was that Britney Spears had to be taken away in an ambulance after a fight with her ex and police. I can't wait til the Daily Show's back on so i can get real news again.

Surprise surprise, Kucinich pulled his dick move a second time. In 2004, knowing he had no chance in the Iowa caucus, he told his supporters to vote for Edwards. Not because he agreed most with Edwards' platform but because he was peeved that Dean was perceived as the "progressive" candidate instead of him. This time round, he was peeved at Edwards.

Dennis Kucinich has told his followers that if -- by some wild chance -- they find that they are not one of the most popular groups, they should switch to Barack Obama. Kucinich's positions on most issues actually seem closer to John Edwards's, but last summer Edwards was caught on tape whispering to Hillary Clinton that Dennis was really not a serious contender.

Now, it's not like the other candidates didn't tell their supports to vote for someone else if they weren't winning. But, for instance, in Clinton's case, feeling that Obama was her biggest opponent, she told her supporters to vote for Edwards if things went badly for her in attempt to bump Obama out of the win. If she can take out her strongest opponent by using the other opponents against him, that will leave the field clear for her once that main opponent's gone. That's strategy.

What Kucinich did was out of spite. He's so far down the list that his action would in no way "clear the field" for a Kucinich victory in the future. He gains nothing by having his supporters go to a candidate whose platform isn't closest to his own. In actuality, his petty behaviour does a disservice to the people he is supposedly representing. At the end of the day, instead of getting the guy who might be 75% what you want, you only get the 50% or 25% guy or less just so that Kucinich's bruised ego can feel he "stuck it" to the guy who affronted him.

John Edwards was right. Kucinich isn't a serious contender. He's a big baby. Someone please find his pacifier so that he can go back to sucking on it and leave the rest of us alone.