I was grateful to a fellow blogger friend for pointing me to a link with the intriguing title “The Iowa Caucuses Explained For British People” which gave a humorous but nevertheless informative explanation of the uniquely American phenomenon of each state holding caucuses, whereby members of the main parties (here it is Democrat and Republican) select delegates that will eventually vote on who their candidate is going to be, who will then run to become President in November’s presidential elections.

Iowa happened to be the first state to hold its caucus and this morning I woke up to how it all went. In a recent blog I speculated that we might end up with two polar extremes: Trump for the Republicans and Sanders for the Democrats. As is often the case with my political punditry, today’s results suggest I could be wrong, with Ted Cruz (28%) being a little ahead of Donald Trump (24%) and Marco Rubio (23%). On the Democrat side w e have Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders (the only two serious contenders) as neck and neck, with Clinton edging it. As I understand it, this will translate into the number of delegates each candidate can send to the respective convention to decide who will be the party’s choice.

My same blogger friend also shared a link to a quiz that seeks to work out the candidate I am most likely going to side with based on my answers to a number of key questions. The surprising result as far as I was concerned was for number one I got Marco Rubio (78%) a little ahead of Trump, Clinton and Sanders, in that order, with Cruz coming after that. I have to confess I knew very little about Rubio prior to taking the quiz but compared with yesterday I now need to throw two more hopefuls in the presidential hat: Cruz and Rubio, although no one is in any doubt there is a long way to go and it is too early to make confident predictions yet. The way I interpreted my own quiz score was when it comes to issues like abortion and marriage, I am in agreement with the likes of Rubio although there are notable differences when it comes to issues like gun control, immigration, health care and welfare. My more socialist leanings meant on these issues at least I was more likely to find myself being in agreement with the likes of Sanders and Clinton.

All very interesting of course, not just because it provides an amusing diversion but these are issues that affect the life and soul of this great nation of the United States of America and why what is happening should be taken seriously. As for who I want to win, I remain ambivalent and while Cruz’s and Rubio’s Evangelical credentials will appeal to some who think similar to me on such matters, some of the social justice issues that Sanders and Clinton are championing will appeal to others. As I said in my last US Presidential blog: “righteousness exalts a nation” and God bless America, and I will hope in the Almighty and pray in such a vein.