The Voting Begins
After a year of campaigning, countless speeches and town hall events, and numerous debates, it is time for the voting to begin. Iowans will go to caucuses tonight to help select the next president of the United States, and polls suggest the contests are neck-and-neck.
Among Democrats, yesterday's Des Moines Register poll found Hillary Clinton leading Bernie Sanders by three points, 45% to 42%, within the poll's margin of error.
Among Republicans, Donald Trump leads with 28%, followed by Ted Cruz (23%), Marco Rubio (15%) and Ben Carson (10%). No other candidate received double-digit support.
We will find out tonight just how accurate (or not) the polls are.
Your Prediction
How do you think the caucuses will play out? Send me your percentages for Clinton and Sanders, and the top three GOP finishers.
If you're in Iowa, don't take time voting in my online caucus. Make sure you go to the real one!
Ayatollah Honors Hostage Takers
Iranian state TV announced yesterday that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, awarded the Victory medal to the Revolutionary Guard officers who kidnapped ten U.S. sailors last month and held them hostage at gunpoint.
The seizure of the U.S. patrol boats violated international law. But that didn't stop Iran from taking full advantage of the situation -- exploiting our sailors for the regime's propaganda purposes.
But pictures of our sailors on their knees with their hands behind their heads weren't enough. Now the ayatollah is taking a victory lap, awarding medals to his soldiers for taking American hostages.
Iran is clearly feeling emboldened. It flew a drone over one of our aircraft carriers, the USS Harry Truman, and reportedly chased away another U.S. ship.
The drone should have been shot down. Our ship should not have abandoned its position. But I suspect the Navy held its fire and changed course on orders from the White House.
This is a very dangerous time for America and our allies. We should expect more pushing and probing by an overly-confident Iran in the weeks and months ahead. This is the Middle East America's next president will inherit thanks to Obama's weakness.