The REAL Winner of Iowa Caucuses? Barack Obama!>

[Survivoreesta]

From Howard Fineman

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The final Iowa results aren't in but we already know one big winner: President Barack Obama.

The dismal, nasty campaign here was not good for the Republican Party or the country. There was precious little debate on anything other than who literally was Holier than Thou; the dollars spent on attack ads were, vote for vote, enormous. One GOP top finisher is unpopular with the base; another is too far out of the mainstream to be nominated, let alone elected; the third lost his last Senate race, in Pennsylvania, by 17 points, and is far to the right of the country on social issues.

All of which is good news for a president with a 40 percent job approval rating and a desperate need for a weak opponent next November.

Projections put the GOP turnout at about 118,000 votes, roughly the same as 2008, a year in which the Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama race drew twice as many participants. In other words, the turnout was not the kind of show of interest and enthusiasm that would presage a Republican surge next fall.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/03/barack-obama-iowa-caucus-2012_n_1182458.html

"As lambs to the Slaughter."

[dimbear]

1. So true. Two joke candidates and the inevitable winner nobody likes. Perfect field for Obama.

Truth to tell the Republicans aren't really trying.

[bemildred]

2. Half right: "The dismal, nasty campaign here was not good for the Republican Party or the country."

Anything that is bad for the republican Party is ipso facto good for the country, if only by way of evil avoided.