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Barack Obama’s victory over John Edwards and Hillary Clinton in the Iowa caucuses punctures any air of inevitability around Clinton’s campaign and could herald a lengthy battle for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Obama’s win made it a happy night for Gov. Tim Kaine, an early backer of the Illinois senator and a national co-chairman of his campaign.

“Barack’s success indicates his broad support and his ability to appeal to folks from across the political spectrum,” Kaine said in a statement released by Moving Virginia Forward, the governor’s political action committee.

“Tonight we have seen that Iowans, like people here in Virginia and across America, are looking for real change in Washington.”

Obama, who would be the first black president, won in a state that is nearly 95 percent white. His victory is notable, but not unprecedented. Jesse Jackson won five Democratic primaries in 1984 and 11 in 1988, including Virginia on the first Super Tuesday.

Obama’s win will make Kaine’s schedule very interesting in the coming weeks.

In the run up to Feb. 5, when Democrats will compete in more than 20 states, Obama will need trusted surrogates on the campaign trail. Kaine, the first governor outside Illinois to endorse Obama, already has campaigned with and for the senator in Iowa and South Carolina. But the timing isn’t great for Virginia’s governor. By early February Kaine will be in the middle of the General Assembly session and could be in a pitched battle over his proposed $78 billion two-year budget.

On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee’s victory over Mitt Romney—with John McCain and Fred Thompson in a virtual tie for third and Ron Paul not far behind—means the GOP contest is wide open, said
John H. Hager, chairman of the Republican Party of Virginia.

“It’s very interesting, I’ll say that,” said Hager, a former lieutenant governor of Virginia. “A week is an eternity in politics, but Virginia has a shot of being pivotal in this whole national process.”

Even if the Democratic nomination is still up for grabs by Virginia’s Feb. 12 primary, Chris Dodd and Joe Biden won’t compete. They called it quits after they barely registered in Iowa.

To me, it says a whole lot that Obama (1.) won in a lily-white farming state and (2.) that Gov. Kaine so enthusiastically supports the man. In fact, Kaine’s zealous endorsement will help Obama a lot—much more than anybody seems to think right now. Watch and see.

CNN projects that Mike Huckabee has won Iowa’s Republican caucuses, finising ahead of Mitt Romney. The battle to watch now is over who finishes third—Fred Thompson, John McCain or even Ron Paul.

With 15 percent of precincts reporting, Huckabee had 36 percent of the vote to 23 percent for Romney,  14 percent for Thompson, 12 percent for McCain and 11 percent for Paul. Rudy Giuliani lagged far behind with 3 percent of the vote.

David Yepsen, a veteran political columnist for the Des Moines Register, says that on caucus night there are “three tickets out of Iowa.” Three candidates on each side get enough of a bounce to fight on.

Giuliani is trying to challenge the conventional wisdom. The Associated Press reports that Giuliani campaigned in Florida while his rivals duked it out on caucus night in Iowa. Giuliani is betting that he can hang on and jumpstart his campaign with a win in Florida Jan. 29, without first getting a ticket out of Iowa, New Hampshire on Tuesday, or South Carolina Jan. 19.

If Giuliani can do that, the GOP race could still be up for grabs by Virginia’s Feb. 12 primary.

Oh, jeez…this means that Huckabee is gonna break-out that stupid electric guitar again. The class clown has gotten some encouragement.

Gov. Tim Kaine says he’ll keep the TV remote busy tonight, flipping between Virginia Tech’s clash with Kansas in the Orange Bowl and coverage of the Iowa caucuses. Of course, Kaine has avid interest in both outcomes.

The governor grew up in Kansas, but he is rooting for the Hokies and has a friendly bet with Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. If the Hokies win, Kaine gets an assortment of Kansas beef. If the Jayhawks win, Kaine will send Sebelius a Virginia ham.

Kaine might get a bigger prize someday if Barack Obama prevails in Iowa and gains momentum in the fight for the Democratic nomination. Kaine, the first governor outside the Illinois senator’s home state to endorse him, is a key Obama supporter in a Southern state with 13 electoral votes.

In 2000, Gov. Jim Gilmore helped Texas Gov. George Bush capture Virginia’s Republican primary. Bush returned the favor by naming Gilmore head of the Republican National Committee. If Kaine can boost Obama in Virginia Feb. 12, he might wind up with an even better bounty than Kansas beef.

If projected turnout is any indication, enthusiasm is on the Democrats’ side in tonight’s Iowa caucuses. Democratic strategists expect anywhere from 120,000 to 150,000 voters to take part. Republicans hope to match or slightly increase their turnout of 86,000 from 2000, the last time the Republican nomination was contested.

The disparity is telling because the Democratic caucuses take more of a time commitment on a chilly January night. Republicans essentially conduct a straw poll, but the Democrats’ process is more convoluted. If a Democratic presidential candidate doesn’t get 15 percent of voters in a precinct, those caucus-goers are freed up to throw their support to another candidate. The horse trading and arm-twisting will last into the night, which is why we’ll have the Republican results earlier.

A larger turnout on the Democratic side would follow another sure sign of Democrats’ motivation. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama both say they have raised $100 million for their campaigns—far more than any of their Republican rivals. That means that whichever Democrat doesn’t win in Iowa will have the staying power to compete and buy all-important television ads down the road.

The weather for tonight’s caucuses is balmy for Iowa in January. It might even reach the 20s and there’s no storm in sight. That’s good news for the Democrats and Republicans who are trying to herd their supporters to 1,781 precinct caucuses.

As the results unfold tonight, we’ll be watching not only for who wins, but who beats expectations and gets an unexpected bounce heading into Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary.  Remember, Bill Clinton did not win the New Hampshire primary in 1992. But he finished a strong enough second to anoint himself “The Comeback Kid.”

In Iowa all recent polls show Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards closely bunched. If Joe Biden, Bill Richardson or Chris Dodd were to break into the top three, that would be a big story. On the Republican side, the polls indicate a two-way race between Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee. If John McCain finishes third, don’t be surprised if he calls himself the new “Comeback Kid.”

We should know the results of the Republican straw poll by mid-evening, but the Democrats use a more convoluted process and their results might not be clear for several more hours.  White House spokesman Dana Perino says President Bush is interested in the outcome, but she doesn’t expect him to stay up for the results.

But we’ll be here keeping an eye on Iowa voters’ verdict and what it means for the presidential race.