The Bloomberg State of the Union

“The real state of the union: a nation divided by an angry, out of control president. A White House beset by lies, chaos and corruption. An administration that has failed the American people. It doesn’t have to be this way. Next year we can have a leader who brings people together, solves problems and gets results. Mike Bloomberg will get it done.”

— Michael Bloomberg’s new ad tied to tonight’s State of the Union address

Iowa Has Probably Screwed Up the Primaries, at Least for a While

“Maybe there will eventually be a decent-sized Iowa bounce despite all of this. But there’s a good chance that the candidates who did well in Iowa get screwed, and the candidates who did poorly there get a mulligan. To repeat: There’s very little importance in a mathematical sense to who wins 41 delegates. Iowa is all about the media narrative it produces and all about momentum, and that momentum, whoever wins, is likely to have been blunted.”

Nate Silver

The Iowa Caucases Are Dead

“This fiasco means the end of the caucuses as a significant American political event. The rest of the country was already losing patience with Iowa anyway and this cooks Iowa’s goose. Frankly, it should, The real winner tonight was Donald Trump, who got to watch his opponents wallow in a mess. A lot of good Democratic candidates and people who fought their hearts out here for … nothing.”

— David Yepsen quoted by Politico

Super Bowl Political Ads Finished at Bottom of USA Today’s Ad Meter Poll

60th and 62nd

The two political ads that aired during the Super Bowl broadcast, from the campaigns of Michael Bloomberg and Donald Trump, finished 60th and 62nd out of 62 commercials, respectively, in USA TODAY’s Ad Meter, which ranks Super Bowl ads by consumer rating with voters giving each ad a score from 1 to 10.

Iowa to be a Nail-Biter

19%

A new Focus on Rural America poll in Iowa finds Pete Buttigieg leading the Democratic presidential race with 19%, followed by Bernie Sanders at 17%, Elizabeth Warren at 15%, Joe Biden at 15% and Amy Klobuchar at 11%. “Our biggest takeaway… The top four candidates are in a virtual dead heat, and Klobuchar isn’t that far off. That means precinct by precinct delegate counts and realignments are going to make this a nail-biter to the very end.”