I was focused on the Democratic side of things because of my assignment for the night and am just beginning to process the other huge story of the evening: the big Mike Huckabee victory driven by his dominance among white evangelicals and that group’s complete dominance of the GOP electorate here in Iowa.  The utter failure of Mitt Romney to fully connect with voters undermined the tremendous organizational advantage that he had.   The key question: Where does Huckabee go from here?  He’ll clearly make a short stop in New Hampshire, but realistically a third-place showing would be a victory for Huckabee there because of the ideological and demographic composition of that electorate.  This means Mike Huckabee’s dreams for the presidency will likely all come down to the state of South Carolina, a state that is well-suited for him because of its huge population of white evangelicals.  The key question: Do the “powers that be” in the Republican party–whom Huckabee criticizes and who ridicule him–coalesce behind another candidate by that time (January 19th)?  Romney looks like a loser after tonight but might look better on Tuesday with a comeback.  But, Fred Thompson–whose corpse got a little blood running with a third place finish this evening in Iowa–might be the guy they turn to to stop Huckabee.  It’s going to be a great month in politics.

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