The big political news in the U.S. today -- and it was big news, at least to the media -- was the Republican straw poll in Iowa. It is the first vote of every Presidential campaign, 15 months before the fact. That it involves a miniscule number of voters, determines no delegates, and that Iowa is far from a representative state doesn't seem to matter. Campaigns are energized and sometimes lost over the opinions of a few thousand politically involved Iowa citizens from the party which is out of office. This year it was the Republicans voting. 16,892 of them, to be precise. Nothing against Iowans but this degree of influence is kind of silly and must seem even sillier to non-Americans.

Then again, in the UK there are by-elections in obscure districts which seem to receive outsize attention as markers of the national mood. Not exactly apples and apples because those votes are between opposing parties, not interfraternal dustups.

For you horse race fans out there, here's how the 17K Iowans spoke today --

Michele Bachmann 28.55% (4823 votes)
Ron Paul 37.65% (4671)
Tim Pawlenty 13.57% (2293)
Rick Santorum 9.81% (1657)
Herman Cain (1456 votes)
Rick Perry (718 votes) (write-in, announced candidacy today and not on ballot)
Mitt Romney (567 votes) (stick a fork in him when he gets no love in a very red state)