Paul Scott comment: The Democratic Presidential race, explained!

In case you haven't been paying attention to the Democratic Party's contest to pick a candidate to run for President in 2020, it's probably because the number of presidential candidates is roughly equivalent to the entire population of Calmar (or at least it seems that way).

But if you'd like a simplified view of the Democratic Presidential contest, here it is: There are really only two possibilities of the type of candidate the Democrats will elect--it will either be a very liberal candidate like Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders who can stir up passions among Democrats or it will be a more mainstream candidate like Joe Biden that most people aren't overly excited about, but is seen as having a good chance of beating Republican Donald Trump.

That means that the Iowa Caucuses in February won't decide the Democratic contest, so much as it might clarify it.  Sanders and Warren will do well enough courting liberal Democrats to continue to New Hampshire and beyond.  But the rest of the field will be narrowed because there will only be a few moderate Democrats to survive the Iowa Caucuses.

I wouldn't be surprised if one of the surviving moderates was South Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg.  "Mayor Pete" was able to wow the audience of nearly 1,000 people who came from all over on Saturday night to hear him speak at Decorah High School.  He did an impressive job of delivering a stump speech which didn't sound like a canned stump speech and did even better at fielding questions from the audience.

Mayor Pete also has the advantage of being a young, fresh face--a sharp contrast with former Vice President Joe Biden.

After early February, it's rare to see a national politician in Iowa--except for those who win their party's nomination.  It's possible we haven't seen the last of "Mayor Pete."