You didn’t have to win your party’s caucus in Iowa on Monday night to look like and sound like a winner. Even winding up in third place could energize supporters.
Republican Ted Cruz basked in cheers after coming out ahead on the GOP side. The race between Democrats Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders was too close to call even with only a handful of precincts yet to report.
For Republican Donald Trump, second place in his first election was not quite a loss but not exactly a victory, either. And rival Marco Rubio came in a close third, which provided a boost to his overall prospects in the 2016 presidential contest.
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“You want to know what scares the Washington cartel? What scares them is the old Reagan coalition is coming back together, of conservatives. We’re seeing conservatives and evangelicals and libertarians and Reagan Democrats all coming together as one, and that terrifies Washington, D.C.” – Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.