Apparently mediocrity is indeed a virtue. Anyone could come to the same conclusion after seeing John Kerry’s win on Monday night. While I’m not too disheartened with the results from the Iowa Caucus, I would have liked to see John Edwards in the winner’s circle. After caucusing for Edwards, I had high hopes and waited impatiently for the results.

This year’s caucus was the first I had ever attended. After hearing many different opinions on how the caucus works, I was a little nervous entering the Edwards Elementary School.

When I passed through the gymnasium entrance, I had to refuse the John Kerry stickers, cookies, and bottled water. Kerry’s supporters were the only caucus-goers who were peddling this sort of propaganda inside the school. I made my way in to register and took a seat amongst the other Edwards supports. I don’t think the turnout we saw was expected since many people in my group spilled over into Al Sharpton’s empty table.

With the gym packed, we began the process to find out which way the Precinct 4-1 vote would go. After a quick head count it was announced that Lieberman, Clark, Kucinich, Gephardt, and the Reverend himself were not viable. When I saw Kucinich had a fairly strong showing despite not having 15 percent of the vote, I became excited knowing Kucinich had declared support to Edwards should he not be viable. All in all, Edwards claimed 16 extra votes from non-viable candidates.

A preliminary count revealed a close race between Edwards and Kerry with Dean trailing by a small margin. Dean claimed 85 votes. Edwards squeezed by Kerry 101 votes to 100. When all the numbers weren’t quite adding up, an “official” recount began. After implementing a rather archaic counting technique, it was found that we had 285 total voters. A recount of Dean affirmed the initial count. After what seemed like forever, Edwards was found to have 100, defeating Kerry’s 99 votes.

The cheers from our camp were quickly quieted when a dispute over delegates arose. According to the rules, the results gave Edwards six delegates while Kerry and Dean received five a piece. This outraged Kerry’s supporters. Emotions ran high and I thought it was likely a fist fight would ensue. A call to democratic headquarters reaffirmed the initial ruling and Edwards was victorious. For those who claim one vote doesn’t make a difference, that idea was torn to shreds Monday night.

While walking away from this experience, it became very clear the caucus was not meant for such a large group of people. The idea is great, but it is very hard to manage nearly 300 people and expect accurate results. A handful of people gathered in a neighbor’s house would be a more fitting atmosphere.

I thought there would be time for discussion about the candidates, especially after five candidates were declared not viable. Much to my disappointment, little dialogue over the candidates was heard. There were a few speeches from residents, including a grade school age boy, but no elected officials spoke. I also expected some debate over who would be chosen to represent the party as delegates at the County Caucus, but I ended up securing a spot by default.

The results of the Iowa Caucus were a bit surprising. Howard Dean’s lackluster performance was certainly unexpected. After being the front runner for so long and receiving support from so many prominent people, I expected him to receive more than 18 percent of the vote. His portion of the pie was little more than a few bites compared to the feast laid at the feet of Edwards and Kerry.

I shouldn’t rag on Kerry too much. He’s a strong contender for the presidency, but I don’t believe he’s got what it takes to successfully trump Bush in the fall. Electability is a very important issue to Democrats this year. With all of the frontrunners proposing similar ideas, the issue now centers around who can beat Bush.

I believe John Edwards is the man who can accomplish this task with ease. First, he’s from the South, so he has a definite advantage in an area vital to a Democratic win. Second, he is the best speaker of the bunch. Since Bush is a notoriously horrible orator, Edwards has an advantage there as well. Last, Edwards is going to kill Bush with kindness. Bush speaks in a calm, arrogant manner. Angry talk towards the president will not be effective.

Whether you supported Al Sharpton or John Kerry, it was a good day to be a Democrat. For those of you who didn’t partake in the Iowa caucus, I implore all of you to participate in another four years. Even if you candidate doesn’t walk away a winner, every caucus-goer does.