Who won?

Couple quick observations from this week's Iowa Caucus:

Big winners: Obama, naturally.

And John McCain.

Obama, because he beat the other two legitimate Democratic contenders, albeit in a pretty close race. And, although I hate to say it, it's still a big deal when an African American scores that big in the hidebound, hay-kicking Midwest. Big win.

Edwards looks to be getting a little traction, too. May be interesting.

John McCain. Sure, Mike 'flat earth society' Huckabee won. But his fundamentalist claptrap won't resonate much beyond the rural Bible belt area.

Big losers: Romney, Hillary, Guiliani, Slow Fred and all the other minors.

Romney lost because he outspent the Pentagon and still couldn't rally support. It's a BIG hit (although he may do better in New Hampshire because it's New England and he's sort of a favorite son.) Still, I think he discovered a pretty face and deep pockets can't overcome a lifetime of flip-flopping.

Hillary expected to finish AT LEAST second. She NEEDED to finish AT LEAST second. For Hillary, third is not a good thing. By nine percentage points. Look like she's suddenly representing the establishment that every candidate's running against.

Guiliani didn't campaign much but since he's running a nationwide campaign, he still should score more than 3 percent. Even Ron Paul did better. And he's a fruitcake.

Slow Fred Thompson didn't do much, didn't try hard and continued his campaign platform of 'well, maybe... or not.... uh, where's my script again...?'

That leaves McCain; a sort of conservative with pretty good name recognition and a better than average reputation. While not campaigning hard, he still racked up 13 percent, which kept his campaign alive while the candidates move out of the hayseed belt.

This is shaping up to be an interesting campaign. Fun for a change.

And so it goes.