Whatever Happened to Momentum

The shift of focus from Iowa to New Hampshire happens so fast that most candidates are already in New England before all the Iowa votes are counted. The successful in Iowa at least wait until after they give their victory speeches before they leave, others never even show up in the state to see the results, and it is not without reason that they leave Iowa so quickly.

The caucus process has large flaws for both parties. The Republican straw poll is non-binding for the delegates who go to the Republican Convention, and the Democratic Caucus skews results in favor of two or three front runners, and leaves other candidates appearing to be unelectable. These flaws are exasperated by mainstream media over-simplifying the results. Whether you agree with the importance of the Iowa caucus or not the end result is irrefutable, and candidates who win head off to New Hampshire buoyed by the results or trying to unchain themselves from them.

The Zogby/Rueters/CSPAN tracking poll puts Clinton in a slight and shrinking lead, while Huckabee is so far in third that see appears to need a miracle to win. Over in the Manchester Union Leader's Suffolk poll the Dems appear the same while Iowa caucus winner Mike Huckabee is in 5th place trailing Ron Paul!

Where is the momentum? Got me, but I can tell you that Huckabee is in big trouble right now. He is currently dragging Chuck Norris around New Hampshire, and I just watched the former governor actually introduce the action hero! Huckabee introduced his prop! Not very presidential.