This explanation from Wikipedia -- "The Republican caucuses are a straw poll where each voter casts his or her vote by secret ballot. Voters are presented blank sheets of paper with no candidate names on them. After listening to some campaigning for each candidate by caucus participants, they write their choices down and the Republican Party of Iowa tabulates the results at each precinct and transmits them to the media. [1] The non-binding results are tabulated and reported to the state party which releases the results to the media." -- makes me think this system is so antiquated that it isn't all that reliable a measuring stick for any candidate.
The subsequent primary elections will be much more telling, IMHO.
I wonder whether this caucus will be more for the media than it is for the voters.
Iowa caucuses are designed benefit the farm lobby.
I must disagree with your post. If Iowa was about the candidate with the most money,mitt would be leading hands down. He has spent a huge amount on tv and radio spots in the last 6 months. Up until 3 weeks ago Huckabee had no money to spend on paid advertising. What he did do was get himself on local talk radio, as did tancredo and paul. But his message seemed to resonate better than the others. These were no holds barred interviews, sometimes with call in questions. I, like other Iowans, listened to these interviews in our tractors, combines, trucks, and kitchens, and drew our own conclusions. I’m not a Huckabee supporter, but I respect him for putting himself out in a non-scripted format, and letting the chips fall where they may. On the other side of the aisle, Kucinich and Biden were the only ones I heard putting themselves into that Kind of Forum, and quite frankly, Biden did pretty well, but I guess his constituency was to busy watching MTV.