Iowa's a done deal. Kerry, followed by Edwards, followed weakly by Dean. Gephardt dropped out, as he should. The other candidates were very nice in their praise for him. As Atrios says,

Kudos to Gephardt for defying the CW of people like me and managing to be a credible candidate.

Kerry's speech was good. Bush needs to be laid off. Ashcroft needs to go. Bring it on.

He could do it. Where did Dean misstep? Can Dean recoup? Will it be Kerry vs. Clark in New Hampshire? Can Edwards pull off the same coup in New Hampshire he did in Iowa and come in second there? Seems like he has a new lease on electorial life.

Right now, we're impressed with Kerry and with Edwards. But what will New Hampshire bring?

Max Cleland's support for Kerry as a Viet Nam vet helps. It was touching to see Kerry hug him during his acceptance speech. We suspect Cleland will be close to a fixture on Kerry's campaign trail.

Kos of Daily Kos on Dean's loss:

Loser: Dean

Ouch. Word on the ground is he had the worst media, and far too much of it. Lost his message. All those endorsements (Gore, Bradley, Harkin) directly contradicted his anti-establishment message.

Our congrats to John Kerry. He worked for this win, and he got it. So did Edwards. Loved his use of John Mellencamp's "Small Town" as a campaign theme.

Update: Political Wire on What Happened to Dean?