A caucus-goer writes:
It's almost 4AM Iowa time. I got home from the Jefferson-Jackson dinner and tuned in C-SPAN to watch it replayed. A couple of things were clear to anyone in the hall that did not translate to C-SPAN.
1. The notion that Hillary is a candidate shooting for 50.1% never seemed fair to me... until tonight. The speech tonight was held in the center of an arena. Every candidate purchased certain sections and seated their supporters. When they spoke they'd give the occasional nod to their supporter sections. Hillary addressed ONLY her sections. I was seated on the opposite side and all I saw was her back. She's in an arena with 9,000 supporters but 95% of the time she was facing one direction.
2. Obama made the most dramatic speech and he certainly had the most supporters. BUT, it was noteworthy that by the time he spoke many of his fans in the balcony cheap seats had left. Does it mean something that so many of them left? Will they flake off as Dean supporters did 4 years ago?
I am one of the undecided Democrats in Iowa. Nothing tonight swayed me to a candidate. I was close to sealing the deal with Hillary but her polarizing performance tonight reaffirms too much that you have written about her.
Joe Klein has a largely positive profile of Clinton here. Other reports on the JJ Dinner can be read here. My take on the strange Republican love-hate relationship with Hillary Clinton is here.