Obama wins!

That's what I'm talking about.

So, what does this mean? It means it's a good first step, and the second step is promising.

In Iowa, Barack Obama beat Hillary Clinton head-to-head when it came to the issues, particularly on health care which is very promising since New Hampshire voters are very open to his opposition to mandated coverage. It's also promising that he garnered 41 percent of the independent vote, which made up 20 percent of the total Democratic vote. In New Hampshire, that number figures to be between 40 and 50 percent.

The next thing is to build on this momentum and wrap up the support of Joe Biden and Bill Richardson, the latter of whom (maybe) made a deal to release his supporters to Obama. What John Edwards does next is most interesting as he's out of money and is a solid third in both South Carolina and New Hampshire, but if he swung his support behind Obama this train could really start rolling.

And, from the folks I've talked to, most Edwards backers I know list Obama as their second choice.

UPDATE: Wow. Edwards's is staying in and seemed content in turning his concession speech into a Hallmark card, albeit an angry, populist one. Clinton's speech was one of the more puzzling as she recognized that voters want change, but tried to spin it as an affirmation of her candidacy. Of course, if folks want change, then it's hard to run as the experienced candidate who is the wife of a president just removed from office by eight years. Of course she also lost by nine points to Obama and had her candidacy rejected by 71 percent of Iowa caucus-goers, so there's that.

UPDATE TWO: Both Christopher Dodd and Joe Biden are out.

UPDATE THREE: It's safe to say that Obama's victory speech is nothing short of incredible, and that it begins to crystalize that he's not merely running a campaign, but is working to build a movement that transcends politics and ideology. It makes even the most cynical believe.