Tom Carver's Campaign column: Lessons of Iowa: "In Iowa, Howard Dean did not so much fall off a cliff: the sea rose up to drown him.
The opinion polls which showed him in the lead up to the end were not wrong - they just excluded the undecideds.
When the time came for them to make a choice, they plumped for John Kerry and John Edwards.
Several times on caucus night, these thoughtful, agnostic rank-and-file Democrats told me they felt Kerry and Edwards were more likely to beat George Bush.
During the post-caucus parties, someone was selling a lapel button saying: 'Dated Dean. Married Kerry'. And that sums it up. "