Caucus day at last! Some folks at home saw us on TV this morning - see clip below from New England Cable News - I think this same clip was on the Today show. We are on briefly at 0:23.We called a couple audibles. First, with a snowstorm set to drop a foot of snow tonight in Des Moines, we booked a room in Davenport where it is supposed to be just rain. This means an Eastern Iowa day which we started at the Trump rally in Waterloo at 11.
The Donald in person!
We were treated to a half hour speech that might be best described as rambling. We got some pictures and signatures after. We got a late report of Sarah Palin being added to the 130 Trump rally in Cedar Rapids, and since we had decided not to head back to Des Moines, we had time to go check that out. Gov. Palin did not disappoint.
Her speech, and Trump's as well, seemed like a greatest hits of clips we've seen on tv. Palin: we're gonna hold on to our God guns and Constitution. Trump: we're gonna win so much it'll hurt.Trump: We're gonna build a wall.Trump: I feel bad I've spent no moneyAfter grabbing a bite, we headed to a Cruz rally at the Grace Baptist in Marion. This had the spirit of a religious revival. Cruz played well to a crowd of true believers.
Most impressive was that he took questions - the only one among the top candidates that did so - and did an excellent job on tough questions about ethanol and his controversial recent mailer in Iowa (one that warned voters that their voting record was poor and they should caucus to improve it, Cruz defended his effort to get more voters out). We decided to attend the Caucus at Iowa City 21 on the campus of the University of Iowa.
It was packed - 760 voters broke their record from 2008 by almost 50%. We were in the observers corner.
The crush delayed the process and the crowd passed the time singing folk songs. After the O'Malley folks were deemed not viable under the 15% rule, Sanders won 582-177, 7-2 with the delegates to go to the County Caucus next month. His win was not too surprising given that these were college students. After the caucus, and a stroll though the University of Iowa campus, we watched the results at The Mill restaurant for a while, we drove to Davenport for the night which should keep us ahead of the storm in the morning.
In the end, Cruz won the Republican caucus with Trump second, and Rubio a surprisingly strong third (28-42-23), and the Democrats ending in essentially a tie, with Clinton perhaps claiming a very slight edge in "delegate equivalents".
His win was not too surprising given that these were college students. After the caucus, and a stroll though the University of Iowa campus, we watched the results at The Mill restaurant for a while, we drove to Davenport for the night which should keep us ahead of the storm in the morning. 
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