Dwahzon's Village

More on Iowa

-- The Group News Blog has a very interesting perspective on the vote results.




-- NY Times flubs up again... though they did try to clean up the act. How is it they can reduce the Obama victory to a 'win over racism'? I think Miss Laura got it right: "I'm not sure who that insults more, Obama, the people of Iowa, or the readers of the New York Times."

-- This looks really promising:

Youth Vote in Iowa Triples: Young Voters Prove the Naysayers Wrong

...According to estimates by CIRCLE (pdf) youth vote turnout at the caucus tripled tonight, rising from 4% to 11%. Within the Democratic caucus, over 46,000 young people participated, and young voters comprised 22% of all caucus-goers. According to entrance polls by CNN, 57% of those 17-29 year old caucus goers stood up to caucus for Barack Obama. Tonight, they drove his campaign to victory.

The numbers themselves were larger than expected, especially considering the early caucus date during winter break for most colleges. But no one who has been paying attention to young voters in the past four years should be surprised that young Iowans played such a significant role in tonight's caucus.

-- I think Markos said it well last night:

I have to admit a bit of sentimentality. I loved all the speeches tonight -- from Edwards', to Clintons', to Obama's. I'm proud of my party. I'm hopeful for the future.

In a week, I may get cynical again as a few lonesome Democrats, led by Chris Dodd, fight another impossible battle against a terrible FISA bill. We'll see Harry Reid, the rest of our party's leadership, and many Democrats with them sell out key progressive principles out of terror that Mr. 24% will say "boo!" They'll sell out our troops in Iraq, lard up on pork, and forget the promises that gave them their Congressional majorities in the first place. What do they care? Republicans are so pathetic, that even an ineffective Democratic Party will run roughshod over them.

Sigh. The cynicism will return.

But tonight, seeing what transpired in Iowa, I can't help but be hopeful for our party's long-term future. The youth vote is turning out big, and turning out for us. Independents have had enough of Republicans and are trending our way. The center is moving leftward for the first time in a generation.

This was never a short-term project. It's always been a long-term challenge. And we'll have many disappointments along the way. But tonight, I got a glimpse of the promised land, and it's a place I want to reach.

posted by dwahzon @ 9:08 AM