McCain? You've Gotta Be Kidding

So, McCain came out ahead in New Hampshire?

While McCain is certainly not as completely loopy as Mike Huckabee, I wouldn't exactly call him "good news" as a presidential candidate. McCain has been a staunch supporter of George Bush's grandiose adventures in the Middle East. (Granted, I don't think any of the current lot of Republican candidates see or understand the depth of folly that Bush has committed to in the United States)

At the moment, the more I see of the Republican candidates, the more it becomes apparent that another Republican president will condemn the United States - and the world - to another four years of Bush-inspired war mongering, with possibly the only real difference being that the new occupant of the Whitehouse is likely to be much more articulate than its current denizen.

On the Democrat side, I think that Clinton's win is a good thing. From the polling reports I was hearing about, I was beginning to suspect that she may have "peaked" too soon politically. I'm unsure about both Clinton and Obama as candidates - but that's mostly my limited familiarity with US politics speaking (it's not like we haven't had enough to keep my attentions in Canada lately). A continuing duel between these two candidates will keep the party profile high. A "single candidate" run (e.g. what I suspect may have emerged had Obama won last night would have diverted public attentions away from the Democrats, and effectively hand the "mindshare" over to the Republicans.

The Iowa Caucus Votes

I'm not sure what to make of last night's nomination caucuses in Iowa.

The outcome was surprising for both the Democrats and the Republicans.

Mike Huckabee appears to have come out of nowhere and managed to pick up the evangelical vote, pulling the rug out from underneath Mitt Romney. I suspect in this case that what has happened is Huckabee has managed to style himself as "the next evangelical candidate" late in a race where many Republicans were wondering if there was an "acceptably evangelical" candidate in the list.

Meanwhile, the democrats had their own drama, with Barack Obama coming out ahead in Iowa, and Hillary Clinton coming in third - behind John Edwards. Surprising to say the least.

I'm beginning to suspect that what is emerging here is a political division in the US that will fracture ultimately along religious/secular lines, with the Republicans slowly becoming the party dominated by evangelical Christians, and the Democrats picking up most of the rest, but possibly leaving room for a third party to emerge in the coming years. The last round of Presidential Primaries showed some similar divisions, and it seems that the evangelical vote that currently seems to have the power in the Republicans may well become the party power establishment in the years to come.