So the caucuses are over and it’s off to New Hampshire for the whole crew, less those who are done. On the Democratic side, O’Malley wasn’t really a contender this cycle, and neither Clinton nor Sanders needs to change to run in the Granite State. As an aside, when people run and lose, they have a much better chance when they run again: Marty, we hardly knew ye’ but we’ll be looking forward to you in 8 years.

It seems that Bernie will win New Hampshire, but there have been other races where someone was a foregone conclusion, and it didn’t work out. Still, the state is very favourable to him, he’s got a great organization on the ground, he’s well known, and the primary process is much easier than the incredibly anti-democratic (small d) system.

The Republican side is very different. It’s a whole disparate audience for them. Religion and guns are not going to play in New Hampshire the way that they, and ethanol, play in Iowa. Plus, the gloves are off. Fascinating hearing Chris Christie referring to Marco Rubio as “The Boy in the Bubble“. Amazing that Ben Carson didn’t see it coming last night the the Cruz campaign texted that Carson was done after Iowa. (He accepted their apology today.) The Republican dirty tricks are just starting, and should be really fun to watch. Perhaps we’ll see more fraud mailers, as the Cruz campaign sent out in Iowa. Depending on how you calculate it, Jeb! spent between $2,600 and $12,000 for each vote he received at the caucuses. WHAT will they spend on in the next week? Trump was contrite last night; his speech concise and good, right up until he said he’d probably buy a farm in Iowa.

The one thing that doesn’t matter on either side is that we won’t see mass dropouts prior to 1 March for lack of funding. Even people who barely get 3% of the vote can continue on if they so desire. So we move forward.

Remember – if there is a candidate that you support, give money, give time…elections matter, but ground games win those elections.