but .02% for Dodd? Gah.

I was a Richardson Precinct Captain and a volunteer for the campaign in Iowa. I can say without a doubt, the precinct captains were told explictly to switch thier people to Obama if we were not viable. I heard those calls being made, and was told to my face to do it. Trust me it wasnt idle rumor.. it was fact.

That said, all the denials by the Richardson and Obama campaigns about there not being a "Deal" is also correct. There was no "Deal"... as the Richardson campaign never talked to the Obama campaign or told them what we were doing, only way to have a "Deal" is if the other campaign was working with us.

I can also say without a doubt Richardson on average pulled 10-11% across the state. Without the Richardson supporters the seperation between Obama, Edwards and Clinton would have been VERY VERY TIGHT.. and would have just confirmed what the media was expecting..

So the reason it was done was simple and is being completely missed by the media. This wasn't done to "help" Obama.. far from it.. it was to help Richardson in the long run. The real intent was to hurt the Clinton and Edwards campaigns, and have the media doubt themselves.

Guess what.. it worked !

This was worth the sacrifice and quite simply, Richardson can not breakout in this four way race.. but if Hillary stays wounded, Obama and Hillary go negative and Edwards drops out before Feb 5th. Then on Feb 5th, if niether Hillary or Obama come out a clear winner and split up the states and Richardson picks up a few of the western states. There would be a chance for a surge for him.

The media should not read a lot into the 8% spread Obama had.. The Richardson campaign had enough support to throw one way or the other to have given the win to any one of the three.

The other story they are completely missing is that over 70% of Iowan Democrats didn't want Hillary.. I think the same will be true in New Hampshire.

This is the same reason the Gephardt campaign had a terrible showing in 2004, and how Kerry surged. Gephardt knew he couldnt go further and instead of fighting a losing cause in Iowa, he wanted Dean to be damaged.

So he threw his wieght to Kerry.. So instead of getting his 16-18% he could have gotten if he fought for delegates. He drew a 10% and threw about 6-8% of his support to Kerry.. So Kerry jumped from the high 20s to the Mid 30s.. putting a larger seperation between Kerry and Dean. Making Dean look weaker than he was.

Welcome to how the Iowa Caucuses really work.. I really enjoyed my first trip there and look forward to going back next time when Mark Warner runs in 2016.