February 11, 2016 - There will be no more parades or rallies to wear your Carly Fiorina for president campaign buttons , as the former CEO suspended her White House run yesterday.

While Fiorina had moved from the under card debates to the main stage she never caught on with a large segment of voters. In Iowa, Fiorina finished with 1.9% of the vote. Shortly there after in New Hampshire , Fiorina scored 4.1% of the vote which was not enough to create any momentum in her campaign.

In a farewell post to her supporters Fiorina said "while I suspend my candidacy today, I will continue to travel this country and fight for those Americans who refuse to settle for the way things are and a status quo that no longer works for them."

 February 10, 2016 - After a disappointing 6th place finish in the New Hampshire Presidential Primary , New Jersey Governor Chris Christie brought the curtain down today on his quest for the White House.

Since his entry into the presidential race back in late June, Christie has been stuck in single digits nationally. For a brief time last December Christie had seen his support grow slightly in New Hampshire only to have it knocked down with negative attacks by by his opponents.

With a mixed bagged of results in New Jersey , from nine credit downgrades to the  Bridgegate scandal, Christie was unable to launch himself into the top tier of candidates despite his usually well received performance in the GOP presidential debates.

While its time for the Chris Christie presidential campaign buttons to go into storage , at the age of 53, its entirely possible that someday Christie may get another shot at the White House. For now with poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire , Christie had no options but to drop back ten and punt.

 February 10, 2016 - Its time to get the campaign button presses running overtime as Republican New York Businessman Donald Trump and Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders obliterated their competition in New Hampshire with landslide wins.

Trump , who had never run for political office before, crushed his fellow GOP hopefuls winning 35% of the vote. This first place showing also netted Trump 9 delegates. In second place in what has been called the "establishment lane" Ohio Governor John Kasich nabbed 16% of the vote and 3 delegates.

In third place was Senator Ted Cruz of Texas with 12% of the vote. In fourth place was former Florida Governor Jeb Bush with 11%. Bush had struggled since Trump had entered the race back on June 17 , 2015. Bush's fourth place finish is expected to breath fresh life in to his campaign.

Close to Bush also at 11% but about 1400 votes behind in the actual vote totals was Senator Marco Rubio Florida. Rubio had expected to do better but after a disastrous performance in the last debate he saw his support decline.

Next up sixth place was New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at a disappointing 7% of the vote total. Instead of flying on to South Carolina today, Christie announced that he will return to New Jersey  to consult with his political team about staying in the race. The two term Governor of the Garden State, had put a tremendous about of time into the New Hampshire primary but is appears now that the a Christie presidential candidate is unsustainable.

Rounding out the Republican field was former CEO Carly Fiorina with 4% followed by Dr. Ben Carson with 2%.

On the Democratic side of the New Hampshire primary , Sanders scored an impressive win with 60% of the vote followed by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with 38%. Despite Sanders 22 point win, due to a quirk in how delegates are awarded Clinton actually bested Sanders in the all important delegate count. Clinton will receive 15 delegates to 13 for Sanders.

Next up for the Democrats will be the South Carolina Primary which will be held on Saturday February 27. The Republicans will actually hold their primary a week earlier on Saturday February 20.

 February 4, 2016 - The results of the Iowa Caucuses have brought some clarity to the the 2016 presidential race. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas soared to a first place finish while former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton just barely edged Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. The aftermath of the voting in Iowa also caused four other candidates to realize it was time to pack it in. We'll take a look first at the results of the Iowa Caucuses.

While the last polls heading into caucus night had showed New York Businessman Donald Trump  in the lead, Cruz with an apparently superior ground came was able to upset Trump with a first place finish. Cruz netted 27.6% of the votes cast followed by Trump with 24.3%. In a strong third third place finish and one of the big stories of the night Senator Marco Rubio of Florida came on strong and won 23.1% of the vote.

For the rest of the Republican field Dr. Ben Carson , who at one time led the polls in Iowa , came in fourth at 9.3%. Next up was Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky with 4.5% and  former Florida Governor Jeb Bush  with 2.8%. Former CEO Carly Fiorina and Ohio Governor John Kasich tied at 1.9% apiece followed by two more candidates tied at 1.8% each those being former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.

Rounding out the GOP field was former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania with 1% followed by for former Virginia Governor Jim  Gilmore at 0%.

On the Democrat side it was not to the middle of the next day when Clinton was finally declared the winner with 49.9% to 49.6% for Sanders. Former Maryland Martin O'Malley got up on the score board  with 0.6%.

With the results of Iowa know in the history books, it was time for four candidates to take their campaign buttons and put them in storage. First to realize it was not his time was O'Malley who ended his White house bid on caucus night as did  Huckabee.

The next candidate to realize it was time to throw in the towel was Paul , who said he would return to Kentucky to concentrate his re-election to the U.S. Senate. Finally Santorum , who actually won the Iowa Caucus in 2012, announced he was leaving the race.

Here is one more salute to the campaign buttons of O'Malley , Huckabee , Paul and Santorum.