For the Record's week in review: War and Peace
Happy Saturday, For the Record friends. What a week it has been, and we're not just talking about the latest installment of 'War and Peace.' We never read Tolstoy's tome, so we have no idea what's going to happen next. Sounds like election season. It always seems to come back to that, doesn't it?
Before we ponder further who Natasha's true love really is and what the natural color of actor James Norton's hair could be, let's recap what happened in the political world this week.
Caucus war
The Iowa caucuses came and they conquered. We're still in a tizzy over Monday's results. On the GOP side, Ted Cruz proved the polls wrong and trumped Donald Trump in Iowa. The Donald was gracious in defeat for all of 10 seconds, and then he did exactly what you would expect him to do. A real tweet: "Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he stole it." Teddy coined it a #Trumpertantrum. Other considerations: Trumpeted, Trumptastic, Trumpdown, Trumpandemonium, Trump Diggity. Meanwhile, Marco Rubio took his third-place finish as well as Miss Colombia took her Miss Universe finish, before she found out she didn't win after all.
Democrat Land was more of a nail biter for everyone except Martin O'Malley (but we'll get to that in a bit). By Tuesday, Hillary Clinton claimed Iowa victory over Bernie Sanders using the questionable means of coin flips and errors. And by Friday, Iowa officials said they were going to look at the reported discrepancies, something that would affect the delegate count. Still, Clinton's campaign holds that even if the contested results end up in Sanders' favor, she'll still have a slim lead. Related: What does 1.7947 of a delegate look like? Sounds uncomfortable.
Prep for the polls: See who is running for president and compare where they stand on key issues in our Voter Guide
Peace be with you
For the four candidates who fought the good fight for as long they could (which, in this case, was the reality check delivered by the Iowa caucuses). May they now enjoy future debates from their couches, playing drinking games and debate bingo like the rest of America.
We also tip our hats to Jim Gilmore for noting that he's #StillStanding. Indeed you are, sir. Indeed you are.
Debate war
With O'Malley out of the picture, we've entered the Mortal Kombat phase of the Democratic primary cycle. On Thursday night, Sanders and Clinton got their first taste of the head-to-head debates to come (because, if you missed that news, there ARE more to come). It's the battle of idealism vs. pragmatism, with a hint of foreign policy experience and a dose of Wall Street ties. Prepare yourselves: It's gonna be a bumpy ride.
No prime-time politics peace just yet
There's a #GOPDebate tonight! And there's no undercard to go with it! (Sorry, Carly.) If debates on a weekend night aren't your thing, rumor has it that a certain Democratic senator who's running for president might make an appearance on Saturday Night Live opposite Larry David, presumably to discuss how many pairs of underwear he owns.
Our parting gift to you
Trump Donald. You know you want to.