Meet EA's Newest Correspondent: Dear Leader Kim Jong Un on the Iowa Caucus

We were all very sad at EA WorldView when we heard the news that Glorious Leader Kim Jong Il of North Korea would be looking at things no more.

However, we were soon cheered up. Kim Jong Un, the new Dear Leader, has joined EA in embracing social media to comment on all the news that is fit to satirise, taking to Twitter like a Republican no-hoper to a Presidential election year. This week, between sharing his love for the band Creed and the actress Jennifer Love Hewitt, Kim Jong Un --- or @KimJongNumberUn to his followers --- offered the following rather acute overview of the Iowa Caucus and ongoing Republican campaign:

We promise more nuggets of analysis from this brilliant, youthful, dictatorial mind over the coming months.

US Elections Audio & Analysis: Scott Lucas with the BBC "A 4-Point Guide to the Iowa Result"

A Fading Candidate: Newt Gingrich1. The Republican contest is probably already down to two candidates: Mitt Romney v. Anyone Not Named Mitt.

2. Rick Santorum, in a victory of timing, got to be "Anyone Not Named Mitt" yesterday, with previous "Anyones" --- Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Newt Gingrich --- fading to the point of departure without a surprise boost in the next few weeks. 

3. Even with a limited share of the vote, this is good news for Romney. Iowa, with its distinction as town-meeting caucuses rather than a primary in the voting booth, usually throws up surprise victors --- anyone remember Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee in 2008? The challenge for a front-runner is to avoid embarrassment, and Romney has accomplished that.

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US Politics Feature: The Election Road Starts in Iowa

The first primary in the 2012 Presidential campaign will be held next Tuesday in New Hampshire. Before that, however, we get today's caucuses --- effectively, town meetings --- in Iowa for activists, primarily on the Republican side, to state their preference for the nominee for November's election.  Republican presidential hopefuls have criss-crossed the state for months, spending millions of dollars and time on states only have 11 of the 538 electoral votes that will determine who is the next President.

So why should we care beyond the razzmatazz of an opening contest?

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US Elections Audio: Scott Lucas with BBC on Republicans and the Iowa Caucuses

See also US Presidential Campaign 2012: 'Tis the Season for Silly Names

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I spoke this morning with BBC Radio's 5 Live about the state of the contest for the Republican nomination for the Presidency, six days before the initial battle in the Iowa caucuses.

This is a scene-setting interview, but amidst the sound and fury of Republican candidates rising and falling, I hold out the constant of Mitt Romney as the strongest potential challenger against President Obama next November.

The discussion starts around the 2:43.00 mark.