Lessons from Iowa

The election process finally kicked into third gear last night with the Iowa caucus, and now we're off and running.  It feels like it took forever to get here, but get here we did, and with some impressive results.

Here are some interpretations from what transpired last night:

• Jeb, Christie, and Huckabee are over.  In fact, Huckabee took the formal step of "suspending" his campaign.  It will be interesting to see where supporters of these candidates (admittedly small, but supporters nonetheless) land.
• Trump is vulnerable.  The candidate that appeared to have the most wind in his sails was bested by Cruz, and darn near got beat by Rubio as well.  Did his refusal to participate in the Fox News debate backfire?  And more than that, how does he react to getting beat?  
• It is astonishing to me that in the United States a self-avowed Socialist can basically tie for the Democrat nomination in Iowa.  It only goes to show how much that party, and our society, has changed.  Scary.

Iowa is hardly the entire election, and we have a lot more to go from here, however it's a start of the end of what should prove to be a very interesting election season.