Yup, the media was effectively reporting Carson out before any voting had even been done.
A twitter friend in Iowa told me she saw it on CNN on her way out the door. Of course she also said she was informed that a court had ruled Ted Cruz ineligible to be president.
She just laughs it off because its no different than any other caucus.
I imagine it worked on a few. But I don't really believe it made a significant difference in the voting.
The whole process is fairly chaotic. Of course, it's utopia compared to the Democrat Party Caucus process.