It's Super Bowl weekend, but for many political junkies, the big game came a few days early. Yes, we're talking about the Iowa Caucus, which took place on Monday after months and months (and months) of campaigning in the Hawkeye State.
Now, with the field winnowing and New Hampshire's primaries on the horizon, Watchdog Podcast hosts Eric Boehm and Matt Kittle take a look at the state of the race. It's basically a three-way tie on the Republican side, as U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the winner in Iowa, looks to fend off Donald Trump and U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida.
On the Democratic side, a coronation has turned into a serious race. Hillary Clinton was supposed to jog to the nomination, but she barely eked out a win in Iowa and now faces an uphill battle in New Hampshire against U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont.
Although Iowa gets portrayed as the Super Bowl of the campaign -- because of all the media coverage and attention leading up the caucuses -- history says that it's really more like Opening Day. A win on the first day of the baseball season is nice, but hardly means anything in the long run.
Also on this edition of the show: After six months, how is Chicago's plastic bag ban holding up?
And why is the state of Mississippi spending so much money on a new tire factory? It's the biggest economic development project in state history, with $274 million in taxpayer money on the line.
