Ron Is On

I took a break from not watching the news last night to watch the returns from Iowa.  I'd hoped to write Ron DeSantis's political obituary, at least in national politics, at the conclusion of the Iowa Republican presidential caucuses, but he actually eked out a second-place showing in the Hawkeye State, edging out Nikki Haley by just a couple of percentage points.

Haley was considered the favorite to give Trump a big scare in New Hampshire, but her calculations have possibly been scrambled as a result of DeSantis' better-than-expected run in Iowa.  As all this has happened, Chris Christie has withdrawn as a candidate, having seen that he has no chance of winning and wanting to avoid splitting the vote against Trump after his road-to-Damascus conversion from Trump acolyte to Trump adversary (COVID will do that to you), but not only has Haley been diminished at DeSantis's expense - Trump won an outright majority of caucus-goers' votes, the first presidential candidate to do that in Iowa in either party since, when?  Ever?

Democrats hoping for a bruising battle among Republicans that could affect Trump's chances in November might still get their wish.  Haley, who finished only a couple of points behind the Florida governor, could still make this difficult for the Donald in New Hampshire, where independents can vote in the primary, or DeSantis' new-found momentum could result in the knock-down brawl between Don and Ron that once seemed likely only a year ago.  But the Biden campaign had best not count on too much drama in the early state GOP presidential nomination contests, because, as Trump's success last night proved, it's ultimately not going to matter much.