I hope that Clinton does not win Iowa

Nothing against her and I will gladly vote for her if she is the nominee.

But if she wins Iowa this could be the end of the campaign.

It is bad enough that the whole thing will be over on Feb. 6, but can't we have a bit of a race until then?

This thing's not over by a long shot. Dean was up by 30% a monthe before Iowa, and look what happened - and we're almots *two* months out. Her numbers are dropping rapidly in Iowa and NH as people start to actually think seriously about the race - Clinton's very, very vulnerable as long as her opponents do what they did in the last debate - ask a question, and not let up until she gives a straight answer. She's incapable of straight answers, and will flounder like a fish out of water.

except for the wingers. They'll be out in force to vote against HRC

driving blind in a blizzard to lay a bet on anyone winning in Iowa.

Sometimes leading candidates go on to lead and win; other times those who are first wind up toward the bottom of the heap.

Just ask President Gephardt.

Iowa Democrats are in an enviable position because they get first crack at it. Jan. 3rd is Orange Bowl night. Who knows who will show up at the caucus sites around the state?

Most of us would if we were there, is my guess, and I bet dedicated Democrats would rather begin the process of choosing the next president than catch the play-by-play in the football game.

Bill Clinton did not win either. Sure, there were reasons. Harkin was such a sure thing that most the 1992 candidates did not even bother to campaign there.

And Tsongas was a favorite son in New Hampshire.

This is why the "powers that be" added Nevada and South Carolina, I guess. To have a more diverse electorate separating the first and second tier.

I do hope that no matter who wins, that, starting in 2012, we will move to a rotating primaries.

This is insane.

We could do this better than it's being done right now.

I'm with ya all the way.

I hope she doesn't get the nomination either.

:)

..and watch the Pundits' heads explode. C'mon, it'll be fun!

Greetings from Iowa!

If every DUer who posts here would write a letter to the editor of an Iowa paper, like the Quad City Times, Dubuque Telegraph Herald, Sioux City Journal, Cedar Rapids Gazette, hell even the Des Moines Register . . . in 200 words or less . . . address undecided Iowa Democrats (and there are a bunch of them) and tell them why they need to caucus for John or Obama or Bill or Joe or Chris. It would take you the same amount of time to email a letter to the editor that it takes to post here, AND you will be writing to persuade people who may not be on the Internet, but do caucus. Iowa has the highest newspaper readership per capita in the nation. We know our job is not to pick the next president, but to narrow the field from the pretenders to the contenders.

I'm supporting John Edwards, but I would welcome your letters to the editor reminding my fellow Iowans what is on the line and why Hillary is not the answer. Push the "send" button instead of the "post message" button for a few weeks. I promise Iowans will read your letters and factor your input into our decision on caucus night, Thursday, January 3rd.

Even better, if you live in a neighboring state, come on caucus night and help haul Democrats who support other candidates to their caucus site (school, fire station, library, etc.)

And someone like Joe Biden will be second or third.

Considering Hillary's currently the frontrunner, does anyone doubt that if Obama or Edwards manage to win Iowa they wouldn't head into NH and NV and South Carolina with an enormous head of steam. Besides, for that to happen Hillary's campaign would likely have to suffer a fairly serious meltdown a la Dean in '03 (i.e. blowing all their money, allowing expectations to sky-rocket). Still, I guess if Hillary only loses Iowa narrowly she might live to fight another day. Dean's problem was the distant third place finish.

Basically though your point is right, Iowa decides our nominee and most likely the next President. But, at least they've been doing it for a while and the few that do caucus are pretty serious about it. I think that's the main reason why Iowa is still a fairly tight three-way race - Iowans are more impervious than most to national media stories about the candidates and do indeed like to make up their own mind, independent of Chris Matthews and Howard Fineman.

Iowa is a curse, it picks GE losers.