Seems the final participation number on the Dem side in Iowa rests at 239,000. It is difficult to express just how much that number exceeds almost all expectations. Here's what Edwards advisor and former Dean 2004 guru Joe Trippi said just a couple days ago ...

Anybody who tells you this thing gets up to 220,000, that's some number of people who've never participated in this thing. It'd be an incredible thing to see if it happened, and more power to the candidate who pulled that off.

But I'm also having this reverse deja-vu where I remember spending a good chunk of this period 4 years ago telling every reporter that would talk to me about exactly how 220,000 people were going to turn out and vote, and if they did Howard Dean would be the next president of the United States. This time I feel a little awkward sitting here arguing that 200,000 will never show up, but I honestly don't think it's going to happen.