sen. barack obama wins iowa caucus

shoulda been there

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DES MOINES, Iowa – The first ever African American candidate to have a legitimate chance to win the U.S. presidency just made history, again. First-term Senator Barack Obama, D-Ill, leaped into the lead for the Democratic nomination as he won the Iowa Caucus with a larger margin than most political pundits anticipated. With the victory, Obama became the first candidate of color to win any presidential primary. As 100 percent of the precincts were counted, Obama came away with 37.6 percent of the votes, while Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., surprised some with a second-place finish at 29.8 percent. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., logged a disappointing and some have termed a dispiriting, third place finish at 29.5 percent.

The dramatic turnaround in the polls surprised most analysts. Just months ago, Obama, 46, was a distant second in Iowa to the front-running juggernaut Clinton, 60, who was practically christened as the political heir apparent to her popular husband, former President Bill Clinton. It’s considered imperative that both Clinton and Edwards exemplify stronger showings in the upcoming New Hampshire primary. Senators Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Joe Biden, D-Del., dropped out of the race after procuring miniscule percentages of the votes.

“Some said this day would never come,” Obama exclaimed in a televised rally following the Iowa Caucus. Obama is credited with helping to energize the electorate in the first primary of the presidential season. A record number of Democrats turned out to vote in the caucus – more than 239,000 compared with less than 125,000 in 2004 – in a historic political season that has witnessed an African American (Obama), a woman (Clinton), and the first Mexican-American candidate (Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico) run for office.

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Even though Obama’s showing was impressive, analysts admonished supporters against premature optimism. New Hampshire, the site of the next primary, is a radically different political state than Iowa and presents unique challenges, as do many of the Deep South states scheduled to vote on Super Tuesday in February. –terry shropshire.

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