Net Results

CNN, Fox News have projected Illinois Sen. Barack Obama the winner of a close three-way Democratic caucus contest, with 2004 vp candidate John Edwards and New York Sen. Hillary Clinton neck and neck for second.

Obama's charisma and message that he can be a greater catalyst for political change than his opponents have enabled him to emerge as a very strong contender in his bid to become the nation's first African-American president. And his win definitively punctured any thought that Clinton, the former first lady, is the inevitable Democratic nominee -- even though she has maintained a sizable lead in national polls even as the heavily concentrated campaign efforts by Obama and Edwards in Iowa thrust her into a tight race there.

Edwards again ran strongly enough to compete in Iowa, as he did in 2004, when he was the runner-up to winner (and eventual nominee) John Kerry. But the Iowa outcome raised the stakes for Edwards in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, as Obama's win has at least temporarily positioned him at the leading alternative to Clinton.