Inevitability?

Fred Barnes:

SO MUCH FOR THE inevitability of Hillary Clinton as the Democratic presidential nominee. The biggest story in the world today is the defeat of Clinton and the entire Clinton political machine, led by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, in the Iowa caucuses. Iowa has the first contest in the 2008 presidential race, but it's not always a critically important event. This year it was.

The second biggest story is the Iowa victory of Barack Obama, a senator from Illinois who has just finished his third year in office. He is an African-American with remarkable appeal across racial and cultural lines. Obama is now not only the favorite to win the Democratic presidential nomination, he's the candidate in either party with the best chance of becoming the next president.

Mike Huckabee's defeat of Mitt Romney here in the Republican caucuses was extraordinary. But beating a former one-term Massachusetts governor is hardly as historically significant as Obama's triumph over Clinton. Until recently Huckabee, a Baptist preacher and the ex-governor of Arkansas, wasn't taken seriously by the media and political communities, including by me. But in Iowa he proved to have impressive campaign skills that may allow him to reach beyond the conservative Christian base responsible for his victory here. To win the Republican nomination, he'll need to.

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Clinton has deep problems. She has a base in the Democratic party, but it wasn't enough to keep her from an embarrassing third place finish in Iowa. True, she can point to the elder George Bush, who finished third in Iowa in 1988 and then went on to win the Republican nomination. But his rivals weren't as formidable and attractive as Obama. For Clinton, winning New Hampshire is a must and now she's the underdog.

John Edwards emerges from Iowa on life support. He needed to win in Iowa, where he finished second (to John Kerry) in 2004. He practically lived in the state the past four years. It was his best shot. It's difficult to see an Edwards path to the nomination.

Now, the Republicans. Huckabee wisely added a populist economic message to his religious appeal in Iowa. It doesn't have much substance to it. It's largely sentiment. By emphasizing the populist pitch, he may broaden his appeal to Republican voters in states with fewer conservative Christians than Iowa. We'll see. In any case, the Republican race is wide open.

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He is right about the Republicans. Huckabee is back in the weeds in New Hampshire, so he will try to take what bounce he gets to South Carolina which has more conservative Christians. He can be beaten there is the conservative portion of that dynamic is the emphasis. Obama comes across as more honest than Clinton. He can be beaten if opponents focus more on the specifics of his proposals and cut through the charm.