The Iowa caucuses were last night. Here’s my take on it.

Barack Obama won the Democratic Caucus by about 8 points. He was in a virtual three-way tie with Clinton and Edwards going into the caucus, so it was interesting to see who would come out on top. I’m a bit surprised that his lead was as large as eight points, but even more surprised that Edwards finished second, beating out Hillary by one point. Hillary had 29 compared to Edwards’s 30. Edwards has the strongest chance to win in the general election, so it is good to see him in the top two so early.

Mike Huckabee, with 34 points, came out on top on the Republican side. He is the former minister/governor of Arkansas who wants to completely get rid of the income tax and switch completely to a spending tax. Finishing second was Mitt Romney who claimed 25 points. Thompson and McCain each claimed 13, although Thompson had about 280 more votes than McCain. Rounding out the top five was Ron Paul.

You may be asking, “What happened to Giuliani?” The answer is simple. He did not campaign in Iowa because he knew it was a lost cause. He is too liberal of a Republican to do well in the conservative race, so he spent the night elsewhere (in Michigan, I believe).

So what’s next? The calendar shows New Hampshire on January 8, where it will be exciting to see the outcome of Clinton/Edwards/Obama round 2. The other race to watch is Romney vs. McCain, who are the Republican frontrunners. However, Iowa begs the questiion, can Huckabee come out strong again?