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.