I'm trying not to get all worked up about next year's election, since the last time I was thoroughly excited about an election – ahem – things didn't go as I'd hoped. However, I've still got enough political interest left to have me keeping an eye on the Iowa caucuses tonight, which, for those of you who don't follow politics that much, often serve as a sort of canary in the coal mine for who's going to land the nomination for each party. Consider the previous winners of this particular contest:

At this moment, ~9:20 PM EST, the Dems are reporting an Obama-Edwards-Clinton neck-and-neck-and-neck race, with results at 33.7%, 31.9% and 31.6% respectively. Total, that's 97.4%; Bill Richardson's weighing in with 1.7% and Biden's at 0.9%, leaving Dodd, Gravel, Ohio's local loon Kucinich and all others at 0.0%. I hadn't honestly expected Edwards to be making such a strong showing, but good for him!

What interests me even more than the Dems at the moment is the Republican race. Mike Huckabee's been declared the winner already with 35% of the votes, followed by Romney with 24, Thompson with 14.2, McCain with 11.8, Ron Paul with 10.9 and – this is where I cackle with glee – Giuliani with a paltry 3.7%. Why does this warm my heart? Because I've found Giuliani's campaign technique so far to be utterly deplorable, a despicable attempt to capitalize on the loss of American lives during 9/11. Up until I stopped keeping track, for the majority of his campaign every single one of his speeches included some sort of reference to 9/11. And, by God, I sure hope to high heaven that the next 4-8 years aren't going to be dictated by the events of 9/11 as the last 4-8 years.

God, I miss The West Wing. I loved Charlie Wilson's War – Aaron, buddy, where are you now that we need you? We're sorry we turned up our noses at Studio 60! Please tell us you got your snarking at the TV industry out of your system and are working on a new political series! We're dying out here in an arid wasteland of I Love New York and other reality dreck! Save us! Please!