Tonight's Biggest Loser

[Maxwell]

I will grant you, Donald Trump lost tonight. But you know who else lost tonight? Jeb Bush. Bush's Super PAC spent $15,000,000 in Iowa, and for 5,000 votes that's a grand total of - $3000 per vote!!!

No matter how much dude will pretend he did not try to compete in Iowa, the numbers speak for themselves. This reminds me of when the Giuliani campaign pretended it didn't compete in New Hampshire after getting a pisspoor performance even as Giuliani spent significant time and money there.

[Admiral Kizaru]

the pollsters

[EliteLX]

Feel almost sad for my buddy Jeb.

Guess it's just not your time right now, guy.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

The Des Moines Register

[Mike Thick]

I think Bush already lost, so I won't say him. Paul is up there, since we all thought he would outperform the polls. Trump underperformed the polls, though, so he's up there too. Also, pollsters.

[IceSpear]

Jeb would've been better off just bribing voters.

[Asian Nazi]

He should really file a lawsuit against Right To Rise. 

[yankeesfan]

The ethanol lobby lost YUGE tonight.  Cruz took on ethanol and won, without any pandering.

[Ljube]

Jeb would've been better off just bribing voters.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Poor Jeb. Looks like he's headed for a Giuliani style flame out. He'll get 8% or so in NH next week and 4-5% in SC before dropping out and endorsing Hillary.

[Maxwell]

Poor Jeb. Looks like he's headed for a Giuliani style flame out. He'll get 8% or so in NH next week and 4-5% in SC before dropping out and endorsing Hillary.

Really? I think he would put his tail between his legs and back whoever the Republican nominee is. That includes the man that has been taunting and insulting him throughout this process.

[/]

$3,000 per vote?

That's just sad.

[Higgs]

The ethanol lobby lost YUGE tonight.  Cruz took on ethanol and won, without any pandering.

Pretty respectable really

[Lyin' Steve]

Fox News was still salty about Trump skipping the debate.  Megyn Kelly asked all her guests leading questions about whether Trump skipping the debate was the reason he lost.
She's a loser in my book.

[ElectionsGuy]

Trump - no doubt. He suffered an unbelievable disaster tonight.

[Broken System]

-Pollsters
-Trump
-Clinton
-Bush
-Christie
-Huckabee
-Santorum
-O'Malley

[Comrade Funk]

TRUMP

[Sumner 1868]

TRUMP trump

Fixed in light of recent events.

[Adam Griffin]

$3,000 per vote?

That's just sad.

Especially considering that in most competitive presidential primaries, that number is anywhere from $20 to $100 (and in non-presidential races, $5 to $10).  


The biggest loser, of course, is little babby _trump with his little babby fingers.

[This account no longer in use.]

The biggest loser is the Democratic Party caucus process.

[Lyin' Steve]

Serious answer:

1.  Trump.  Not only did he lose, he dramatically underperformed and the man who has the best chance to beat him, Rubio, dramatically overperformed.  Now Trump is in a rougher place and has a more powerful rival.  It was almost 3rd place, which was going to be a disaster for him.
2.  Pollsters.  Especially your elementary school piano teacher Ann Selzer.  Trump +9?  Clinton +3?  Nice try guys.
3.  CNN you guys suck.  I'm watching it right now.  "Man, this is the New Hampshire airport.  You walk through these doors, and you're in the middle of the New Hampshire primary.  Look at that kid, he just wants to sleep.  We'll play it again so you can make sure you didn't miss anything."  What??
4.  Fox News for whining all night about Trump skipping their debate.
5.  Rand Paul and the Paul f**ktards.  Rand's going to have a secret surge?  No chance you idiots.
6.  Bernie Sanders.  He needed a 1-2 punch of Iowa/NH to make it a close race.  As much as the Sanders retards try to spin it, a muddled tie isn't the result he wanted.  The media will still say "Clinton was inevitable and now she's not!" but that's not really a surprise to anyone paying attention to the race and won't be enough to close the 20/30-point gaps in states that aren't Iowa, NH, and Vermont.  Now all these conspiracy theories are going to make them look like sore losers.
7.  Terry Branstad.  Sorry Mr. Mustache, your opinion didn't matter.
8.  Martin O'Malley.  You could have recorded three albums and gone on tour with that year of your life, dude.
9.  America because our next president will be a Canadian.

[Sir Mohamed]

The biggest loser is without question wanna-be president John Ellis Bush. He spent millions of dollars and got less than 3%.

[Leinad]

It's hard to call guys like Jeb!, Huckabee, and (sigh) Rand tonight's biggest losers when their finishes are exactly what is to be expected of their horrific campaigns.

The real answers:

1. Donald Trump. He went from being THE FRONTRUNNER to probably 3rd most likely for the nomination. He was expected to win comfortably and Cruz ended up winning comfortably instead.

2. People who didn't foresee Cruz's win. Maybe this is just me doing an explainabrag, but the candidate most appealing to evangelicals has dramatically overperformed the poll numbers 3 times running--first Huckabee, then Santorum, and now Cruz. Yes, polls are a great indicator of predicting the results. I love polls as much as anyone else (except Trump). But look at prior results, guys. My predictions were all within 2 or so percentage points of the result--except for my bias expectation of a Rand surge and my failing to predict the extent of Rubio's surge. Why? Because I analyzed the '08 and '12 results.

3. Me, for being far too "I told you so" in the last paragraph.

[Beezer]

Ann Selzer. She went from "oh my god, the best pollster in the business, the gold standard, once she publishes her #s we can pretty much head home" to "you're worse than Emerson and Opinion Savvy".

[Landslide Lyndon]

HILLARY, according to POLITICO.

Seriously though, the only sane answer can be TRUMP and the Republican establishment who did everything they could to bring down Cruz and they failed spectacularly.