Thompson, McCain Tie for 3rd in Iowa

The major news organizations have already projected the winners in the Iowa Caucuses this evening. GOP candidate Mike Huckabee and Democratic candidate Barack Obama gained more votes than anyone else in their respective Parties.

However, the biggest news of the evening is what's beneath the headline.

On the Democratic side Hillary Clinton is projected to take 3rd place, with 96% of the vote counted. This is sorely disappointing news for the Clinton campaign. John Edwards has surpassed Hillary in the vote count to take 2nd place. Bill Richardson comes in 4th with a distant 2% of the vote.

Republicans, on the other hand, seem to be more undecided than the vote count indicates. While Huckabee is in 1st place in the state, Romney is a mere 7 percentage points behind in 2nd place.

But here is the big news. Tied for 3rd place are Fred Thompson and John McCain.

A mere three months ago McCain had been given up for dead on the campaign trail. But he has surged to share 3rd place in the voting.

Fred Thompson was written off in Iowa completely by the news media and the political pundits--and even many citizens. Yet the candidate spent most of the month of December criss-crossing the state and experienced a last-minute surge that placed him in 3rd place along with McCain.

With McCain also surging in New Hampshire, his 3rd place showing in Iowa will surely help his chances in the N.H. primary next Tuesday. And Thompson can emerge from Iowa claiming that he did much better than expected.