General Disarray

Kill kill kill

The Iowa results, with a victory for a populist social conservative [Huckabee] deeply mistrusted by many people in the Republican establishment, also virtually guarantee that the nomination contest will not simply be a battle over personalities and credentials. Instead, the race will now be a deep and probably intensely negative fight for the direction of the party in the post-Bush era.

Here’s what still utterly uncertain: Who will emerge from this demolition derby? Iowa’s historic role is to winnow the field. In 2008, it has the effect of expanding the number of credible top-tier contenders. There are now five people who can conjure at least somewhat plausible paths to the nomination.

It's going to be really fun to watch them gut each other.