Back in my youth, my family would make a twice a year pilgrimage from our home in the Bay Area down to Santa Barbara -- once in the fall to take my sister down to school at UCSB, then again in the summer to bring her home.
The pattern was pretty much the same -- we'd get up before dawn, get in the car (which was loaded up the night before) and head down US 101. I always liked the fall trip better because my brother would ride in my sister's car with her, leaving me the back seat unencumbered.
Typically, I would climb in the back with my blanket and transistor radio, curl up on the seat (this was the days before child safety seats or even mandatory seat belts) and fall back to sleep. When the car stopped, I'd wake up and ask the proverbial question, "Are we there yet?" Usually the answer was "No"; we'd either stopped in Gilroy to gas up the car, or we'd gotten separated from my sister and were waiting for her to catch up with us. (Dad did have a bit of a heavy foot on the accelerator.)
So, what does this have to do with anything?
Just this -- we've got a long trip ahead of us, and while the Iowa results are encouraging for supporters of Barack Obama, they're not cause for despair for either the John Edwards or Hillary Clinton camps.
Yes, Obama had a good victory -- but when it comes down to it, over 60% of caucus goers preferred someone else. If this was an election for a school board or City Council seat, the top two finishers would go to a run-off election...and who knows what would happen then? Yeah, I know this is a different situation -- but then again, a caucus is totally different from a primary where the people who get to vote are much more controlled, and let's face it, going to a polling place is probably a bit more boring than getting together with a crowd of your fellow XYZ supporters.
All I'm trying to say is that for anyone to look at tonight's results and think that it's over, and everyone should just concede that Barack Obama is going to be our nominee...well, you're just like me waking up and asking "Are we there yet?" No, we're not there yet -- we've got a long way to go, and we've got three very qualified and talented candidates, any one of whom would do a far better job than either the current occupant of the White House or any of the men vying for that job on the Republican side. Let's hear from voters in a few more states, like New Hampshire, and South Carolina, and Nevada...and if I'm lucky, maybe my own state of California might even have a say.
Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go to bed, but not till the next stop, just till the morning...