There are lots of things that Iowa is not going to tell us. We do not know who the Republican nominee is. We really don't know much about the Republican Party at all, but we do know a few things. The flavor of the week, Newt Gingrich, finished an extremely disappointing fourth. Ron Paul finished a surprising third. I'm not sure that either of these two affects me much. It is clear that Rick Santorum has reenergized what was an extremely dead at lackluster campaign. It's unclear to me whether he'll be able to take this momentum into New Hampshire and South Carolina.

Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann truly imploded. Rick Perry only has himself to blame, with a string of extremely poor performances both on stage and in the debates. Michele Bachmann threw all of her chips into Iowa. She threw as much weight as much as any other candidate and they clearly rejected her.

Finally, I think that Iowa does tell us a lot about Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney's heart was broken in Iowa four years ago. He and his staff for whatever reason decided that they would not to campaign hard in Iowa. They spent most of their time elsewhere. Then, they thought they saw an opportunity late in the race to pull out a victory in Iowa. Schedules were shuffled and suddenly Mitt Romney was pressing the flesh in Iowa. Although he won, I think that one could question his front-runner status. Winning by eight votes is not the overwhelming victory that you are hoping for.

Don't pay too much attention as the mainstream media tries to overanalyze the results in Iowa. In my opinion, the main story out of Iowa is that Rick Santorum is not dead and Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann probably are.