The real story out of Iowa this week isn't who won, it's how many people turned out to caucus. Link  239,000 Democrats in 2008 compared with 125,000 in 2004  -  almost double!!  And 2004 was the previous record year.

Republicans had 108,000 turnout. ( I've read 114,000 from other sources Link )  Their previous record was 114,000 in 1988.

The bottom line is that interest among Democrats has exploded while interest among Republicans has been stagnant. One can only hope that the same is true in other states.

We political folk have been trying to improve voter turnout for years by trying to make voting easier. Motor-voter registration, advance voting, same-day registration and the like. I think Iowa Democrats have shown that the only sucessful way to increase voter  turnout is to increase voter interest.  Iowa Dems have been offered some great choices in candidates - heck, even the bottom tier (Richardson, Biden) are great choices. And they've responded with gusto.