Toss of a Coin, So Long Johnny Football

The Great Game: Hillary Clinton has been declared the Democratic winner of the Iowa caucuses by a margin barely visible to the human eye. Clinton, 49.9 percent, Bernie Sanders, 49.6. Some districts were decided by the toss of a coin. No, really, that’s true.

Clinton declared herself the progressive candidate for Democrats in a move designed to steal the label from Bernie Sanders, who came from nowhere to nearly beat her with his freewheeling agenda for political change.

Republican Ted Cruz comes out of Iowa looking good, but he’s an extreme conservative who won an extremely conservative electorate. According to polling he got only 9 percent of Republicans who consider themselves moderate. Cruz will have to appeal to a broader segment of Republicans in the coming lineup of primaries to win the nomination.

Donald Trump, who slipped from a clear lead in Iowa to second, complained about his treatment afterwards as if mommy had not praised him for potty training. He tweeted, “The media has not covered my long-shot great finish in Iowa fairly. Brought in record voters and got second highest vote total in history!”

What’s clear is that many Iowans voted their anger, giving 50 percent or more of their votes to non-traditional candidates. Commentator David Gergen writes for the CNN website that, “Much of the anger and frustration we see among voters these days trace directly to the sluggish growth of the economy over the past 10 years. Unfortunately, most economists think we won’t be snapping out of that soon, no matter who is elected in November.”

Money, Money: The Dow Jones dropped nearly 300 points yesterday on news that oil slipped below $30 a barrel. Investors dumped energy and financial stocks.

Not that it really matters, but amid the carnage, Alphabet, Inc., the parent company of Google, has surpassed Apple to become the most valuable company in the world.

And speaking of Google, rival search engine Yahoo! announced that it’s cutting 15 percent of its workforce and seeking “strategic alternatives” for the business. That means they’re really in trouble, and so is CEO Marissa Mayer. It turns out that changing the company logo wasn’t the magic.

The Kickoff: The Cleveland Browns’ once-promising quarterback Johnny Manziel is looking like he’s getting punted in early March, the soonest the team can release him without his salary counting against their cap. The hard-partying “Johnny Football” has been a public embarrassment to the team and was seen in Las Vegas when he was supposed to be getting treatment for a concussion during the season-ender. Now, police are investigating an accusation of domestic assault against his girlfriend in Ft. Worth.

Concussion: A new report says that the Oakland Raiders’ great quarterback Ken Stabler had advanced brain deterioration when he died of cancer last July at age 69.

Stabler had a 15-year career, leading the Raiders to their first Super Bowl win. He’s one of the highest profile NFL players found to have had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, caused by repeated concussions.

The Obit Page: Myron Beldock, a criminal and civil rights lawyer who championed hopeless cases and won, has died in New York at age 86.

Beldock was the lawyer who eventually got the boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter out of jail after serving 19 years for three murders he always said he didn’t commit. Beldock also defended Yusef Salaam, one of five defendants in the notorious Central Park Jogger case who were freed from prison after a serial rapist ultimately confessed to the crime.

>Gordon Goody, the mastermind of The Great Train Robbery in England in 1963, has died in Spain at the age of 85. Goody and his gang robbed the Glasgow-to-London Royal Mail Train, making off with the equivalent today of $50 million.

Muffin Man: Jeb! Bush, who finished sixth in Iowa Monday, posted on Facebook yesterday morning; “Dropped by the Red Arrow in Milford, NH. Their fresh blueberry muffins look too good to pass up.” He’s going to lock up the muffin vote.

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It's Been Said

"Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you Christians. I'm a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again, we'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote."

  • Donald Trump courting the vote of the Christian right

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