Strap Yourselves in, Boys & Girls. It's going to be a bumpy ride...

The mad sprint to the Iowa caucuses (and the tendency of Iowa Dems to change their minds and dramatically change the dynamics of the Democratic nominating process) has begun. With 30 days of campaigning left (minus one or two days around Christmas, of course - Jesus wouldn't like anyone crassly campaigning on his birthday!) and a summer that saw Hillary make gains which would have provided her the coronation she has been planning for decades, it now looks like the three-way we've long anticipated is coming to fruition.

According to the WaPo: Sen. Clinton has decided if they're going to pile on, she's going to fight back: Losing Ground in Iowa, Clinton Assails Obama.

Despite all the efforts of the Clinton machine, it looks like we've got a real (if brief) race on our hands. Might as well forget about the "politics of hope" because this looks like its going to be more "politics as usual."

Clinton has hammered Obama recently over his health-care proposal, arguing that he is misleading voters because it omits millions of people and would not lower costs. But Sunday, in a dramatic shift, she made it clear that her goal is to challenge Obama not just on policy but also on one of his strongest selling points: his reputation for honesty.

"There's a big difference between our courage and our convictions, what we believe and what we're willing to fight for," Clinton told reporters here. She said voters in Iowa will have a choice "between someone who talks the talk, and somebody who's walked the walk."

Asked directly whether she intended to raise questions about Obama's character, she replied: "It's beginning to look a lot like that."

To assure your safety and full enjoyment of our democratic process, please keep you arms and legs inside the roller-coaster at all times. Whatever you do, don't close your eyes!