Notes
With 99% of precincts reporting, Donald Trump has won 51% of the popular vote in the Iowa caucuses.
As I mentioned earlier, perhaps the bigger news is Nikki Haley’s third place finish. In the pre-caucus polling she had pulled ahead of Ron DeSantis, but he held on to second place throughout the night.
This could prove especially troublesome for Haley going forward, as she had made DeSantis’ presumed mishandling of his campaign a talking point against him—only to lose the battle for second place to him.
Both DeSantis and Haley leave Iowa with a major problem in their campaigns for the GOP nomination: Donald Trump's commanding lead in the polls is real, and unless either DeSantis or Haley can beat Trump in a pre-Super Tuesday primary, their campaigns are reduced to a meaningless hunt for second place in the nominating contest.
The GOP primary season may very well have simultaneously started and ended in Iowa this year.
