Senator Obama wins Iowa
Despite me disliking it, I’m still going to offer some thoughts on last night’s results. Sen. Obama win was, I must admit, pretty impressive. A black man won in an overwhelmingly white state. I don’t know what that says about things but I think its a good thing. I wouldnt by any means count out Senator Clinton at this point, or Senator Edwards for that matter (though the talking heads on TV basically have), but clearly Senator Obama has the advantage now. Before everything was all talk, now he’s actually got a win to back things up. Certainly it hurts Senator Clinton’s aura of inevitability, which really was the only thing she had going for her in my mind.
Courtesy of TPMtv, here’s Senator Obama’s victory speech:
Damn good. Ezra was quite impressed with it.
The other big thing to me, that’s getting a lot of media attention, is the turnout. The final numbers I saw said that 239,000 Dems turned out while only about 115,000 Republicans did. 239,000 people is a lot of people, it smashes the previous record and I think shows the level of enthusiasm Democrats have in comparison to Republicans. And Senator Obama deserves a lot of credit for turning out new caucus-goers. Many people have pointed out today that usually when candidates say they are going to win by turning out new voters they are full of shit, but Senator Obama actually did it. Color me impressed. Yglesias:
I think the manner of Barack Obama’s win is pretty impressive. I can’t be the only one who was a bit inclined toward a cynical roll of the eyes at the idea of winning on the back of unprecedented turnout, mobilizing new voters, brining in young people, etc. That sounds like the kind of thing that people say they’re going to do but never deliver on. But he did deliver. That’s impressive.
…snip…
What’s more, it’s a reminder that tonight’s victory for organizing and mobilization was spearheaded by a former community organizer; he’s a guy who believes in the power of mobilizing new people and brining new people into the process. In Iowa, it’s worked very well for him, and it’s pretty thrilling to think about what could be accomplished with that kind of energy nationwide.
Holla at me