So what does it all mean? One theme that was conveyed in Iowa on Thursday night is unbridled conservatism is dead, at least for this election. For a red state like Iowa to choose Huckabee tells you ideology wasn’t that important. Perhaps his religious roots were but not political ideology. The second thing we learned is populism is in vogue. Both Obama and Huckabee exude populism. This is great news if you are a progressive. The sinister edge in politics we have seen in recent elections is not carrying the day. Mitt Romney with his campaign tossing out millions of dollars in ads and his decision to use those ads to attack Huckabee seems to have backfired. The most amazing thing we learned is, at least in Iowa, the Democrats are not going to sit on their hands this election. Iowa, a pillar of a Republican state, saw twice as many Democrats caucus as Republicans. Both parties broke attendance records but the Democrats flocked to the caucus sites in droves. Watching C-SPAN tonight, the site that was highlighted on the Democratic side had so many people that there was confusion as to how to effectively count those for each candidate. Both Huckabee and Obama gave great victory speeches that spoke to change. I felt reassured tonight. I know it is just the first step but it is the beginning of the end of the nightmare that is the Bush Presidency.