A bunch of candidates placed their spin on results last night between press releases and e-mails that I received. Of course, I have something to say as well.
I’ll start with Mitt Romney, who had to be in a bit of shock.
With the announcement of today’s results, Governor Romney made the following remarks to supporters, volunteers and Americans across the country:
You know, just as Dan Jansen pointed out, you win the silver in one event, it doesn’t mean you’re not going to come back and win the gold in the final event and that we’re going to do.
This thousand plus group of people here, and my whole family here, Ann and I, we have come a long way this last year. You think about where we started – an unknown Governor from the bluest state in America comes to Iowa running against, well at that time three household names – Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Fred Thompson – and somehow tonight we beat all of them. We’ve just got to make sure we keep that up state after state after state.
(snip)
You’re going to see change in Washington, because America recognizes that we’re not going to change the nation and have a bright future if we just send the same old people back to Washington just different chairs. That’s not going to work. We need new faces in Washington, and I intend to be one of them.
What beat Mitt in Iowa were evangelicals and others who hadn’t been part of the political process before. It’s a situation akin to that we have in Maryland, where many in the party establishment are Romney supporters, but grassroots split in several directions. That and the fact Romney has money to burn explained things like the large box of Romney items I received when I was seeking items for our Wicomico County Republican Straw Poll. But as happened here, money didn’t translate into votes.
Further, the relentlessly negative advertising Romney used in Iowa backfired. Are you listening, Andy Harris?
How about Bill Richardson on the Democrat side:
“We made it to the final four,” Richardson said. “My staff and volunteers worked their hearts out to get us here. Now we are going to take the fight to New Hampshire.”
Richardson received 7% of the vote in entrance polls. After watching the results at a rally in Des Moines, he boarded a plane for New Hampshire.
Bill, you had 2% of the final vote because you couldn’t make a 15% viability standard in almost every precinct. You may have made the final four but it’s akin to an NFL final four featuring New England, Dallas, Indianapolis, and you as the Miami Dolphins. Just keep running for veep.
Fred Thompson noted:
“Were going to have a ticket to the next dance… The fight goes on, my friends.”
You have a ticket to every dance that’s left assuming you’re on the ballot. But finishing that low in Iowa isn’t going to help you money-wise. The amount of fight that remains depends on how split up the field is with victories, because if Huckabee is strong in the next two or three primaries you’re toast moneywise.
Speaking of Huckabee, he noted:
When people ask you tonight and tomorrow why you think we won, please tell them because we believed in some things and we stand by those things, and we do so together.
The issue is whether those things you believe in are going to energize the conservative base or not. There’s a lot to like about Mike, but I’m troubled by the feeling that he’s closest to President Bush in terms of governing and he (like Bush) won’t be strong enough to escape the siren song of Beltway moderates and would continue President Bush’s “new tone”.
Rudy Giuliani’s campaign put out this statement:
“We congratulate Mike Huckabee on a hard-fought victory in Iowa. This race is wide open and we will continue to run a national primary campaign designed to win the number of delegates necessary to become the Republican nominee. Rudy is the only Republican candidate who can not only win the primary and general elections, but will turn purple states red.”
If he’s trounced in Florida, which is supposedly his “firewall” and one of those so-called “purple” states, it’s over for him. He may have a significant number of delegates but all that may lead to is a brokered convention. Of course, that could be fun to watch!
It was a rough night for Hillary too. Her campaign had this to say:
Congratulations to Senator Obama and his campaign on their victory tonight. It’s been a hard fought race here in Iowa for the last year and all eyes now turn to New Hampshire.
Hillary is going to continue making the case that in these serious times when America faces big challenges, it will take a leader with the strength and experience to deliver real change.
This race begins tonight and ends when Democrats throughout America have their say. Our campaign was built for a marathon and we have the resources to run a national race in the weeks ahead.
But so does Obama, and he beat you and your “invincibility” by nine points. When only 30% of the voters swallow your “change” message given by one of the ulitmate agents for the status quo, what do you switch to next for a message? This also may peel off some of the black support for Hillary unless she quietly goes behind the scenes through her minions and plants the seed in the black community that Barack Obama’s an Uncle Tom because he won in a lily-white state like Iowa.
Later she noted:
“We’ve got more work to do.” That was my first reaction as I saw last night’s election results come in.
No, something tells me your first reaction involved several usages of the f-word.
John Edwards on being number two and trying harder:
It was a strong night for us – we finished second in Iowa, beating out the Clinton machine. Change won tonight – the status quo lost.
But now the fight is on – and they’re going to come after us, trying to drown out our message of change with their hundreds of millions of dollars.
I sat there and listened to his “soup line America” speech that he gave. Keep doing the class envy stuff, we who really make America work will watch your campaign crash and burn again like your last two did. You had to point out their hundreds of millions of dollars because you don’t have nearly that in the bank.
And then we have the two who bid farewell to the race. Chris Dodd had this to say:
I count the past year of campaigning for the presidency as one of the most rewarding in a career of public service.
Unfortunately, I am withdrawing from that campaign tonight.
But there is no reason to hang our heads this evening — only the opportunity to look towards a continuation of the work we started last January: ending the Iraq War, restoring the Constitution, and putting a Democrat in the White House.
(snip)
We made a real difference in shaping the debate, and we’ll continue to do so in the coming days, weeks and years.
Now Chris can get back to being an obstructionist Democrat in the Senate, instead of an obstructionist person on the Presidential ballot. It’ll be interesting to see who he throws his support behind and how that affects his relationships within the Senate.
The same goes for Joe Biden:
“I am not going away. I’m returning to the Senate as the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and will continue to ensure that we protect the nation’s security and show our country that Democrats know how to keep America safe, keep our commitment to our troops and restore our country’s respect in the world.”
Bad news for both the 1% of the voters who liked him nationally and for the state of Delaware, who probably will still vote for him since I believe now he can run for Senate again.
Now most candidates move on to New Hampshire, but tomorrow delegates will be picked in Wyoming’s caucus. Since it’s the least-populated state of the union and solely a GOP event, obviously the mainstream media’s ignoring it. But I’ll check on it Sunday just to see who wins and give Dick Cheney’s home state a little love.
With Barrie Tilghman backing her, Hillary is a sure thing!