(Reuters) — The Iowa caucus offered tough lessons for some presidential hopefuls on Monday (February 1), jolting the campaigns of both political novice Donald Trump and seasoned candidate Hillary Clinton.
Republican presidential candidate Trump, who led most polls of Iowa Republicans, at times by double digits, watched conservative Ted Cruz win.
“We finished second. And I want to tell you something, I’m just honored, I’m really honored,” Trump told supporters at a rally in West Des Moines.
Cruz won the Republican Iowa caucuses with 28 percent of the vote compared with 24 percent for Trump, whose aggressive and unorthodox campaign has been marked by controversies ranging from his calls to ban Muslims temporarily from entering the United States to his pledge to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexican border.
“We have asked from the very beginning, is Donald Trump going to be able to convert these massive crowds of enthusiastic backers probably dazzled by his celebrity status into real votes? And now we have the answer. The truth is he got tens of thousands of votes and that’s a lot more than anybody thought he could possibly get in Iowa,” political analyst and Director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia Larry Sabato said.
The heartland proved slightly more hospitable to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who beat out U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont by a microscopic margin.
“I stand here tonight, breathing a big sigh of relief — thank you Iowa,” Clinton told supporters at a rally in Des Moines.
At Sanders campaign headquarters in Des Moines, the mood was victorious.
“What Iowa has begun tonight is a political revolution,” Sanders told supporters.
Iowa’s track record for picking candidates that ultimately become their party’s nominee is split. Democrats who win in Iowa typically win their party’s nomination. In recent years, Republicans, who have fared well in Iowa, such as 2012 winner Rick Santorum and 2008 winner Mike Huckabee, haven’t made it to the national stage — a fact Trump pointed out repeatedly in the days leading up to the caucus.
“What are you doing? You haven’t had a winner in sixteen years.” Trump asked.
For Clinton and Trump, going forward in the race will mean accepting that their greatest strengths are also a double-edge sword, said Sabato.
“I don’t think there’s much question that Hillary Clinton’s going to be the Democratic nominee, you know unless an indictment intervenes in that sense I think her major opponent is not Bernie Sanders as the FBI (Federal Burea of Investigation),” Sabato said.
Heading into New Hampshire, Sabato believes Republicans can now expect a more wide open race between Trump, Cruz, and Senator from Florida Marco Rubio, the three top placing candidates from Iowa while Democrats could see a tighter, closer race.
