As results poured in from the Iowa caucuses, the 2016 presidential hopefuls took to packed venues to address their supporters one last time before moving on to New Hampshire and other early nominating states.
For some, it was a night of celebration. For others, tonight's results come as a disappointment after weeks of campaigning across the Hawkeye state.
Here are some of the highlights from Monday night’s speeches:
Ted Cruz
The projected winner of the Iowa Republican caucuses walked on a stage at the Iowa State Fair Grounds to thunderous cheers and applause.
“Tonight is a victory for the grassroots. Tonight is a victory for courageous conservatives across Iowa, and all across this great nation," he said. "Tonight the state of Iowa has spoken. Iowa has sent notice that the Republican nominee for the next president of the United States will not be chosen by the media. Will not be chosen by the Washington establishment. Will not be chosen by the lobbyists. But will be chosen by the most incredible powerful force, where all sovereignty resides in our nation by we the people. The American people.”
Trump was projected to finish second behind Cruz.
“I'm just honored, I'm really honored, and I want to congratulate Ted and I want to congratulate all the incredible candidates including Mike Huckabee who's become a really good friend of mine. So congratulations to everybody,” Trump said.
Trump said he looked forward to New Hampshire, but had a few last words about the state he had just lost in.
“I think I might come here and buy a farm, I love it,” Trump said.
The Florida senator thanked God, his wife, family and then his competition.
“I want to congratulate my friend senator Ted Cruz,” Rubio said. “I want to thank another good friend of mine governor Mike Huckabee, for his service to our country. He has announced tonight he's suspending his campaign. We have tremendous admiration for governor Huckabee and we thank him for all he's done.”
“They told me that we have no chance because my hair wasn't gray enough and my boots were too high. They told me I needed to wait my turn, that I needed to wait in line.”
Martin O’Malley
The former Maryland governor had one of the worst nights, failing to win a single county and announced that he was suspending his presidential campaign. At his concession speech, O’Malley rejected the anti-immigrant rhetoric of Trump.
“We need to continue to hold strong to the truth that the enduring symbol of the United States of America is not the barbed wire fence," he said. "It is the statue of liberty.”
Hillary Clinton
The former Secretary of State declared early on that she was the winner of the Democratic Iowa caucus even though the race was too close to project.
“This has been an incredible honor to campaign across Iowa, with so many of you to make the case for the kind of future, we want.”
Clinton acknowledged that there is a real “difference of opinion” about how to best achieve the goals of the Democratic Party, but she emphasized her campaign stands for “what is best in America” and hammered the Republican Party.
“When it is all said and done, we have to be united,” Clinton said. “A Republican vision and candidates that would drive us apart and divide us.
Bernie Sanders
While Clinton was ready to say she won, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders did not feel as comfortable with that rhetoric in front of supporters at a Des Moines Holiday Inn quite yet.
“Nine months ago we came to this beautiful state,” Sanders said. “We had no political organization, we had no money, we had no name recognition. And we were taking on the most powerful political organization in the United States of America. And tonight while the results are still not known, it looks like we are in a virtual tie.”
Sanders congratulated Clinton and her organization for “waging a very vigorous campaign.” He also thanked O’Malley and said, “It's never easy to lose. I've lost more than one campaign.”
He said O’Malley contributed a lot to the dialogue and ran an issue-oriented campaign.
“I think the people of Iowa have sent a very profound message to the political establishment, to the economic establishment, and by the way, to the media establishment,” Sanders said about the night’s events.
I was very impressed with the way Trump handled himself after he lost. He is notoriously very self-centered and egocentric. I think he realizes that in order to win, he needs to not be as extreme so people will see him as a leader of a country. Although, he also knows that the reason some people like him so much is his lack of a filter; because of this, he made sure to roast Hillary Clinton during his speech. He also added the funny comment “I think I might come here and buy a farm, I love it,” I think, overall, he did a good job of appealing to all audiences.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised Trump was humble in his speech after he lost the Cruz. He is usually ruthless when he loses but its nice to see another side to him. He can be very self- centered like said by John above, but he needs to have a softer side to him if he wants to win this election. If he can't realize that, then he will never win this election.
ReplyDeleteI think that the caucuses went well, for the most part. I am completely happy with how close the democratic side of it was, and how Bernie Sanders came super close to making a tie. This gives his campaign a huge momentum boost going into NH. I am surprised that Trump, for once, handled something like a mature person. “I'm just honored, I'm really honored, and I want to congratulate Ted and I want to congratulate all the incredible candidates including Mike Huckabee who's become a really good friend of mine. So congratulations to everybody." I do think he deserved this loss, as I do for every other state, being that he is racist and sexist. I am unhappy that Cruz did win from the republican side as I do not stand for his views. For example, "I will carpet bomb the middle east until the sand glows green" - Cruz. I think this is disgusting how it totally goes against one of our major principles of living in America; Justice. This is not doing justice to bomb innocent people until you fill their homes with radiation if they are not already dead. I find it completely unfair that a group of extremest, which make up less than 1% of all muslims, can cause people to make decisions to exterminate all of the people. I am all for getting rid of terrorism whenever and wherever, but you cannot fight terrorism with terrorism.
ReplyDelete-Muzamil Ahmad p.6
I am surprised by Donald Trump's reaction to loosing the Iowa State Caucuses to Ted Cruz. I am happy with what Trump said, "I'm just honored, I'm really honored, and I want to congratulate Ted and I want to congratulate all the incredible candidates including Mike Huckabee who's become a really good friend of mine. So congratulations to everybody," (Donald Trump, Iowa Caucuses) Even though I like that one sentence, does not mean I like Donald Trump. I am a Republican, but do not like him. I am also surprised that two presidential candidates dropped out of the race at the same time. Although, it is not that surprising, since O'Malley and Huckabee were not doing well.
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised at all by Trump's reaction to his loss in Iowa. People often look to Trump as an agressive individual with very distorted ideas and ethics however Trump is no different than any other honest person. Trump is blunt about his feelings whether those feelings are positive or negative. His reaction to this was very light hearted and positive.-Sabrina Shaw
ReplyDeleteActually I didn't want to comment on this article, but after I read the first few sentences, I couldn't stop reading it.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I saw the speeches on TV, and "I'm just honored, I'm really honored, and I want to congratulate Ted and I want to congratulate all the incredible candidates", (D. Trump) was definitely not all he said.
(Most other comments here are like "I was surprised how nice and not aggressive Trump was..").
He clearly offended the Democrats, like always, which I really hate. The same thing applies for Hillary Clinton, who often offends the Republicans as a party. Both of them are bullys, I can't stand it.
Also, I don't like that Clinton was celebrating her win before she even knew the results. It is disrespectful and could have gone wrong.
However, I mostly like Bernie Sanders' speeches, he never really offends the other party and seems to be very intelligent and issue-oriented. Overall, he was a good looser.
Bruno Wilhelm, Period 5
Donald Trump surprised everyone by coming in at 2nd place. He was projected not to get in the top 10, and came in second. He did very well in Iowa despite all the haters. Trump is the only candidate that speaks his mind and says what he wants to say without caring about being politically correct. America needs to stand up for their country and not care about hurting peoples feelings. Cam Newton says in his recent Beats by Dre commercial, "To bad they don't make band-aids for feelings". This quote is why I like Trump, because he inst afraid to tell the truth.
ReplyDeleteI think that it is a big surprise knowing that Donald Trump came in second place. I was thinking that since he is so popular, that he would win. "Tonight the state of Iowa has spoken. Iowa has sent notice that the Republican nominee for the next president of the United States will not be chosen by the media."(Cruz) This quote is explaining how he was meant to be chosen and that the people have spoken. I am super surprised that Donald was OK with losing and didn't say anything bad. “I'm just honored, I'm really honored, and I want to congratulate Ted and I want to congratulate all the incredible candidates including Mike Huckabee who's become a really good friend of mine." (Trump)
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the article about the Iowa Caucuses, I really took into consideration the reasons as to why the candidates fell into the places they did. I watched it on television too, and was surprised to see Ted Cruz in first on the conservative side. However, on the democratic side, I was not so surprised with Hillary Clinton. Now, I'm just 16 so I can't vote yet. But if I could, I would definitely not vote for Hillary. With her history of lying to the american people on multiple occasions that do not include the Bengazi Attacks, I believe she is definitely not equipped to be our next president. Not only do I despise her lies, but I just down right don't agree with her in any way shape or form. All in all, I can't believe she's in first in Iowa, and I hope she does not become president. (Sorry to be so blunt)
ReplyDelete