TNYT: What if Iowa Settles Nothing for Democrats?

[ZombieHorde]

DES MOINES — Iowa is packed with presidential candidates and hundreds of campaign aides, advisers and contributors. Twenty-five hundred representatives of news organizations have been granted credentials to cover the caucuses on Thursday night, twice as many as in 2004. Rarely has a political event been so intensely anticipated as a decisive moment, at least on the Democratic side.

But what if it is not decisive?

What if at the end of Thursday, the three leading Democrats — former Senator John Edwards and Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama — are separated by a percentage point or two, leaving no one with the clear right of delivering a victory speech (or the burden of conceding)? A number of polls going into the final days have suggested that after all of this, the Democratic caucus on Thursday night could end up more or less a tie.

In truth, amid all the endless permutations of outcomes that are being discussed — can Mrs. Clinton, the putative front-runner, survive a third-place finish, or Mr. Edwards a second-place one? — aides are beginning to grapple with the frustrating possibility that all the time, money and political skill invested here might prove to be for naught when it comes to identifying the candidate to beat in the primaries and winnowing the top tier.

“It would be like a six-month trial and a hung jury,” said David Axelrod, a senior adviser to Mr. Obama. “I think it is really possible.”

More at link-
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/us/politics/31cnd-nagourney.html?bl&ex=1199422800&en=457cc09f9dd7ccc9&ei=5087%0A

[eridani]

1. That would be fucking FANTASTIC!!

Brokered convention? BRING IT ON!!! Can you imagine Joe Blow and Jane Doe Delegate actually having some real power instead of being props in a stylized Kabuki pageant? WoooHooo!

[Zookeeper]

2. I hope it settles nothing.

I'd like for Biden to have more time to be noticed and heard.

It also wouldn't hurt to have a chance for the front-runners perfectly orchestrated campaigns to crack a bit and force them to be a little more real. All I'm seeing so far (with the possible exception of Edwards) is Marketing in action.

[NastyRiffraff]

3. I hope so too.

I don't want one state, ANY state, to "settle the election."

[aquart]

4. What if ONE state doesn't decide the party's choice?

Oh! Golly! THEN MAYBE THE OTHER 49 WOULD GET TO BE COUNTED!

Gee whiz, late nights sure make for dumb ass questions.

[ZombieHorde]

5. I think that you missed the point of the article.

This article is about post Iowa campaign strategies.