Kent Ninomiya - It is on! In just a few hours the Iowa caucuses begin. A few hours later we will know who is out of the starting blocks first in the race for the white house. Will it be Clinton or Obama or Edwards? Will it be Romney or Huckabee? Those are the front runners in the polls anyway. Others include New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, Senator Chris Dodd of Connecticut, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware and Representative Dennis Kucinich of Ohio for the Democrats, and Arizona Senator John McCain, Representative Ron Paul of Texas, former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani for the Republicans are on the ballot. The spinning is already beginning. The winners will declare it a mandate. The runners up will declare victory as well. The losers will declare Iowa irrelevant and bank on New Hampshire next Tuesday. The news media is eager to eat all this up. They are mobilized and ready in Iowa tonight. It's like the playoffs for political reporters. The deck gets reshuffled after the Iowa results are announced and journalists will have a fresh batch of stories to pursue. That's a relief after making stuff up for the past year. This election is also wide open so there is no clear favorite yet. Time to roll up your sleeves and get to work. This should be fun! Kent Ninomiya