• Chuck Norris and Oprah Winfrey rule. Picking the right celebrity to help you in modern presidential politics apparently is just as important as any other factor (organization, money).
• Women made up 60 percent of Democratic caucus-goers, yet the first serious female presidential candidate in history got thumped. The “I am woman, hear me roar” theme of the Hillary campaign was a huge loser, among female voters.
• The Obama campaign may remind many pundits of Robert Kennedy, and it certainly has all the enthusiasm of youth. But the Illinois senator did very poorly among older voters, portending bigger problems down the road. Getting a couple thousand voters to a caucus is one thing. Getting millions of young voters out to vote in a general election is something completely different.
• The candidates of the party of the rich have no money. The candidates of the party of the poor have too much money. For Republicans, the lack of resources has served to keep the race wide open. No need to drop out when none of your competitors have any money either. For the Democrats, the huge war chests of Hillary and Obama have winnowed the field to just three (for all practical purposes) with Edwards hanging on by a thread.
• Iowa is completely overrated, as is New Hampshire. They represent just a pittance of delegate votes (in Iowa’s case, none). And after the caucus yesterday, it is still very unclear who the nominees will be for either party. I wouldn’t bet a dollar that either Huckabee or Obama will get to the final round.
• Senate experience is overrated. Joseph Biden (D-Del.) and Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) got bumpkus. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) Senate experience is less important than his war-hero status. Obama’s (D-Ill.) brief tenure in the Senate is in no way a liability. Hillary (D-N.Y.) has iconic status as Bill Clinton’s long-suffering wife.
• Fred Thompson is still hanging in there despite running one of the slowest campaigns in history.
• Mike Huckabee is the only candidate in either field who has a noticeable sense of humor. McCain can be funny, but his humor is more cutting than self-deprecating. There is a complete lack of humor on the Democratic side. They are a humorless lot, all of them.
• I spent the Iowa caucuses from the vantage point of Florida, where I had the chance to watch a barrage of Rudy commercials on television. No other candidate has been on the air down here. The ad is pretty good, although I think Floridians are more worried about the tanking real estate market than they are about Osama bin Laden.