Iowa Democrats Swarm To Caucuses - Record Turnout!

The real story in Iowa was the turnout on the Democratic side. Last election 124,000 people showed up for the caucuses but last night a whopping 220,588 appeared. That shows something beyond the appeal of the candidates to me, it shows an energy in the Democratic party and from the statistics it’s a young energy.

I watched the returns and coverage on CNN and the faces of the caucus goers was younger than I have seen in the past. That new energy is what propelled Obama into first place. He is overwhelmingly favored by younger voters and the fact that they turned out gives me hope.

On the Republican side, it was business as usual. Huckabee, playing to the evangelical base won handily over Romney. That will change in New Hampshire where there are fewer fundamentalists, so I feel Huckabee’s victory will be short lived.

That is just as well. The lop sided voter turnout for Democrats in Iowa looks like the country is tired of the GOP machine and is beginning to stand up and make a difference. My hope is that the trend on the Democratic side continues. I also hope that the vision set out by Obama can fire up voters across the nation when the election comes. America has to change direction!