Big nights for Cruz, Rubio; Trump may buy farm; Dems in toss-up

Groundhog Day. When pollsters have to relive their wildest inaccurate predictions.

Donald Trump’s “inevitability” took a dent as it turned out he doesn’t always win so much. Monday’s outcome sets up an ongoing fight – at least in the short term – within the GOP primary contest, where some forecasts had shown the property mogul rolling relatively easily through the early states.

Ted Cruz finished top of the pile; but perhaps the night belongs to Marco Rubio, who may have effectively made it a three-person race.

DMR

nyt

And the field got a little smaller as Mike Huckabee – who had been running despite already having a Fox News show – called it a day.

On the Democratic side, it came down to a coin toss in some precincts as Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were locked in a virtual tie.

Both sides, naturally, claimed victory, perhaps one more credibly than the other.

And it’s now a two-person race heading to New Hampshire, with Martin O’Malley dropping out.

https://twitter.com/aseitzwald/status/694332438785425412

Finally, in case you think election news travels too fast…

Time to sh*t or get off the pot…

The big day. After all the talk and bluster and psychotic episodes, actual voters get to cast the first* actual votes today in Iowa.

(*strictly speaking voters have already started casting mail-in ballots in some states, but this is the first actual contest).

The caucuses and the campaign in Iowa could hardly have been more of a circus than they were this year. In a calm moment before the chaos later, perhaps it’s worth reflecting on the speech JFK never got to give in Dallas in 1963. (h/t @WestWingReports)

jfk

We’ll do something approaching a liveblog thing later on Monday night into Tuesday. For now, here’s what people think, for what it’s worth.

EveofIowa

 

As if you couldn’t take any more excitement, it’s also Transfer Deadline Day.

Follow along, if you must…

and let’s hope for more last-minute drama like this, shall we…?