The beginning has begun

The Iowa caucuses are here! The voting is about an hour in and the results are as expected: close. Republicans Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney are head to head for first place. Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are head to head for first place. Keep in mind that this is only about an hour into voting. My predictions of Romney and Edwards are still in the running [one more so than the other].

UPDATE:

Edwards 30%

Clinton 29%

Obama 38%

From NBC News: Projects Barack Obama as winner of Iowa Democratic Caucus

Huckabee 34%

Romney 25%

Thompson 13%

From NBC News: Projects Mike Huckabee as winner of Iowa Republican Caucus

Some information I have collected so far:

- Iowa has 7 electoral votes

- 130,000 Democrats are expected to vote tonight; 80,000 Republicans are expected to vote tonight

- 2.75 million Iowans are not caucusing tonight

- 737,000 Iowans are independent/undecided

- Ad money in Iowa: Obama 9 mil. Clinton 7.2 mil.; Romney 7 mil. Huckabee 1.4 mil.

- In 2000, Al Gore won in Iowa; In 2004 George W. Bush won in Iowa

Now that NBC has said that Mike Huckabee is the winner for the Republicans, let's look to New Hampshire. Romney had taken obvious damage since he's spent so much more money in Iowa and not winning. Even though McCain placed fourth in Iowa, it doesn't matter in New Hampshire because he has a solid lead. January 8th is the date to look at now that Iowa has passed.

The race is still tight for the Democrats. Obama, Edwards, and Clinton are literally toes ahead and behind each other. But, the end has [almost] arrived. Barack Obama has been projected as the winner for the Democrats. This is a big push for Obama and well deserved. He has spent 9 million in Iowa and, unlike Romney, every dollar was worth it. Edwards and Clinton are still very close for second place with Edwards only a few votes ahead of Clinton.

My predictions did not win, but Romney did place second and Edwards could very well place second.

The Iowa caucuses were very exciting indeed and now my eyes water from watching and reading so much coverage. January 8th will be the next date for the caucuses in New Hampshire. Franny is out [like a light].

UPDATE: The beginning marked the end for two candidates. Joe Biden and Chris Dodd both Democrats have dropped out of the race. Dodd receiving 0% and Biden 1% in Iowa ended their bid for the presidency altogether even though this is the beginning. More candidates are expected to be dropping within the next few caucuses/primaries.

Apologies for the misinformation. Mike Gravel has not dropped out.