The Remainderman | TownHall
Cruz, Trump, Carson -- the outsiders -- won over 60 percent of all caucus votes. Their anti-Washington messages, Trump and Cruz's especially, grew the GOP turnout to its largest in history, 186,000, half again as many as participated in the record turnout of 2012.
Most significant, 15,000 more Iowans voted in GOP caucuses than the Democratic caucuses, where participation plummeted 30 percent from 2008.
What does this portend?
While Iowa has gone Democratic in 6 of the last 7 presidential elections, it is now winnable by Republicans -- on two conditions.
The party must be united. And it cannot lose the fire and energy that produced this turnout and brought out those astonishing crowds of tens of thousands.
The remainderman, however, cannot reproduce that energy or those crowds. For Rubio is not a barn burner; he is a malleable man of maneuver.
...
Rubio is "The Hustler," the "Fast Eddie" Felson of 2016. And the Beltway is all in behind him.
He is now the candidate of the Washington crowd that a majority of Republicans voted to reject in Iowa, the darling of the donor class, and the last hope of a Beltway punditocracy that recoils whenever the pitchforks appear.
Most significant, 15,000 more Iowans voted in GOP caucuses than the Democratic caucuses, where participation plummeted 30 percent from 2008.
What does this portend?
While Iowa has gone Democratic in 6 of the last 7 presidential elections, it is now winnable by Republicans -- on two conditions.
The party must be united. And it cannot lose the fire and energy that produced this turnout and brought out those astonishing crowds of tens of thousands.
The remainderman, however, cannot reproduce that energy or those crowds. For Rubio is not a barn burner; he is a malleable man of maneuver.
...
Rubio is "The Hustler," the "Fast Eddie" Felson of 2016. And the Beltway is all in behind him.
He is now the candidate of the Washington crowd that a majority of Republicans voted to reject in Iowa, the darling of the donor class, and the last hope of a Beltway punditocracy that recoils whenever the pitchforks appear.
