Well now. Cruz wins Iowa after taking a political assault the likes I haven’t seen since Reagan’s day. The only thing that *really* surprised me was Rubio finishing as close to Trump as he did.
That is actually the most – if not only – important result of this caucus. It pretty much puts the nails in the coffin for the Bush campaign. Rubio is definitely the establishment choice.
I’m going to expect New Hampshire to be much the same with Cruz and Trump trading places. At this point though, you have to consider the possibility – slight, but still a finite possibility – that Rubio could take NH. I don’t think it will happen, but you can bet the establishment is thinking this way.
The end result? Unless Bush has a major comeback in NH, I wouldn’t be surprised if he drops out soon with Huckabee and the other 1% crowd.
I believe the results of Iowa were good news for the GOP and conservatives. If Rubio is now the establishment’s choice, then the tea party has a major achievement. Rubio came from the tea party and took out Crist in Florida. I don’t doubt his conservatism. Nearly all polls show him beating Hillary and by more points than other candidates. If he can get some of the Carson pure conservative vote too, he will have a path to nomination.