No self-respecting political junkie blogger can get away with not making predictions on electoral contests. So, here’s what’s going to happen today in Iowa. Admittedly, I’m not really going out n a limb here.

Trump has opened up enough distance between himself and Cruz, that any comparative insufficiencies in his ground game relative to Cruz are not going to matter. Solid victory for Trump here tonight. Cruz has shown signs of desperation of late, with a really bad mailer trying to rally less likely voters to the polls. Embarrassing your potential supporters is never a good GOTV strategy.

Still, I assume his ground game is what people are saying it is and I believe he will be able to hold off a surging Rubio, who will run a decent third. Again, I’m not exactly out on a limb with this call. It’s pretty much what everyone who’s closely following this is saying. Just adding my voice to the chorus.

While the media wants us to believe that the Clinton-Sanders race is too close to call, it’s not really. Six out of the last seven polls have her leading, her ground game is solid and while the enthusiasm is seemingly with Bernie, I think it’s unlikely to be enough to overcome his poll numbers and the Clinton machine. It certainly won’t be a blow out, but Hillary gets the edge here. She’ll need the win going into New Hampshire, because pollster.com has her combined polling numbers down 20 points to Bernie.

The pundits will say tell you there are only three tickets out of Iowa for Republicans. The Election Junkie tells you: “Not so fast, Smarty Pantses.” Both Kasich and Bush have tickets out of Iowa, looking for hope in the more congenial (for them) political soil of New Hampshire. Of course, they’ve both got tickets on the Short Line barring some remarkable happenings in New England next Tuesday. Still, Bush will be staying in officially until at least Super Tuesday, and Kasich will too if he can muster a second or third next week which, right now looks likely.

Trump becomes a juggernaut after New Hampshire and South Carolina, both of which he is poised to conquer handily. The only viable strategy to stop him, it seems to me, would be an agreement among The Rest to clear the fields in the favor of the favorite sons: Cruz gets Texas, Kasich gets Ohio, Christie gets New Jersey, Rubio or Bush gets Florida (wouldn’t you love to hear that negotiation?). Still it might not be enough and could backfire badly as an insiders’ deal.

Very difficult to see Trump losing the nomination at this point. I’m off to New Hampshire. More from there later.