RON had a much bigger showing than anyone thought, eh?
I suppose this depends on how one defines "bigger showing". It's true Ron lost by only 30 points --- after essentially moving to Iowa so he could proudly follow Grassley's lead and campaign in all 99 of Iowa's counties. Ron met his goal and did, indeed, campaign in all counties. I'll leave it to others to decide if Ron not winning one of those 99 counties really matters.
Ron's blowing off New Hampshire where he's in fourth place so he can move to South Carolina, beat Nikki on her home turf and, hopefully, relive the magic that was Iowa.
I’m hearing this is “biggest ever” margin for an Iowa caucus. I thought Dole(!) got 64% margin….this is not that.
You're hearing correctly.
Trump's 30-point win more than doubles Bob Dole’s 12-point victory over Pat Buchanan in 1996, which had been the widest winning margin for a contested Republican caucus.