Obama Wins Iowa

Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) secured victory in the Iowa Democratic caucuses, a stunning affirmation of his message of change and a stinging setback to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) -- the long time national frontrunner. Clinton called Obama to concede.

With nearly 1,500 of the state's 1,781 precincts reporting their results, Obama led with 35 percent of the votes followed by former senator John Edwards and Clinton, both with 30 percent.

A large number of news media outlets have declared Obama the winner and his campaign was estimating that turnout surged above 200,000 -- a massive increase from the roughly 125,000 Democrats who participated in 2004.
The shape of the Democratic electorate, according to polls conducted of people entering the caucuses, seemed to also favor Obama. Most Democratic voters are attending a caucus for the first time and a majority called a candidate's ability to bring about change the most important personal quality in making up their mind.

-- Chris Cillizza