Huckabee Hounds The Competition In Iowa

And poor Hillary Clinton finished third on the Democrat side, behind Obama and John Freakin' Edwards. Ouch!

DES MOINES, Iowa (CNN) -- Barack Obama will win the Iowa Democratic caucus and Mike Huckabee will be the Republican winner, CNN projects.

With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Obama had the support of 38 percent of voters, compared to 30 percent for John Edwards and 29 percent for Hillary Clinton.

"The numbers tell us this was a debate between change and experience, and change won," said CNN political analyst Bill Schneider.

Iowa delivered fatal blows to the campaigns of Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut and Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware. Both have decided to abandon their White House runs.

With 85 percent of Republican precincts reporting, Huckabee had the support of 34 percent of voters, compared to 25 percent for Mitt Romney. Fred Thompson had 14 percent, John McCain had 13 percent and Ron Paul had 10 percent.

Rudy Giuliani, who has turned the focus of his campaign to the February 5 "Super Tuesday" primaries, trailed with 4 percent. (H/T - CNN)

Okay, I have a few thoughts here:

• Great wins by Huckabee and Obama. If I were them, I wouldn't rest on their laurels. New Hampshire awaits. Oh, and I wouldn't do a Howard Dean scream, either.
  
• Clinton will publicly play off her finish as no big deal, but I guarantee you she is kicking people's asses and eating their brains for the third place finish.
• Can we prohibit Dodd and Biden from ever running for President again? They announce, campaign, and drop out after Iowa almost every time. Give it up!
• Speaking of giving it up, can we stop with the Ron Paul nonsense already. The guy has a few good ideas, but he only beat out Rudy, who virtually ignored Iowa completely.
• And finally, if Rudy is serious about this run, he better get off his rump and campaign everywhere. You're running for the President of the United States, Rudy. Not the President of every state except Iowa. People remember a snub.