Lessons Learned in Iowa

Last nights political show in Iowa was pretty darn riveting for anyone interested in politics - and of course, I am. One of the best jobs at analyzing what really happened was by Laura Leslie on her blog Isaac Hunter's Tavern. She poses some very interesting questions and makes some very cogent points about the primary results. Now if we could only get her as interested in the governor's race in North Carolina......

Anyway, I took several very encouraging lessons from last night's results that from my perspective are positives for my campaign. Mike Huckabee's win really was stunning considering how badly he was outspent. Thus lesson number 1 is that maybe money is really not THAT important in a small turnout primary. Yeh, it helps - and I'm sure Mike would have loved to have more of it - not just for Iowa but also New Hampshire, South Carolina, etc. But big money didn't win because ultimately voters took the time and effort to really check out the candidates.

The second lesson is that Senator Obama and Governor Huckabee really are about change and really do believe that the country needs to lower the partisan divide that is killing us. And it's obvious that voters in Iowa believed their message.

So while it's a bit of a stretch to compare the status of the Orr campaign with the Obama Express and Huck's Truck, both of which rolled through the competition in Iowa, I do believe there are similarities. Like Mike our campaign is going to be outspent. Like both Obama and Huckabee my message of change and working together will have the opportunity to resonate with voters once the focus turns to the governor's race. And the great thing about the North Carolina primary - I don't have to go to New Hampshire immediately following it.