SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – AT 11:44 P.M. ET:

LAST IOWA GOP POLL – The last Des Moines register poll of this political season has just been published.  From Bloomberg:   Donald Trump has overtaken Ted Cruz in the final days before Iowa's caucuses, with the fate of the race closely tied to the size of Monday evening's turnout, especially among evangelical voters and those attending for the first time, a Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll shows.  The findings before the first ballots are cast in the 2016 presidential nomination race shows Trump with the support of 28 percent of likely caucus-goers, followed by 23 percent for the Texas senator and 15 percent for U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.  The billionaire real estate mogul leads Cruz among those who say they definitely plan to attend, 30 percent to 26 percent. With the less committed—those who say they'll probably attend—Trump also beats Cruz, 27 percent to 21 percent.  If I were Trump, I wouldn't be thrilled.   He's got only 28 percent.  That means 72 percent are not for him.  Add Cruz and Rubio's total, and you get 38 percent, far more than Trump's vote.  We have said all along that one of the things distorting this race is the number of GOP candidates who aren't Donald Trump.

LAST IOWA DEM POLL – From Bloomberg:  Hillary Clinton is holding onto a slim lead over Bernie Sanders in Iowa as Democrats prepare for Monday’s caucuses, though an outpouring of young voters and those who say the system is rigged could enable Sanders to pull off an upset, according to a new poll.
Clinton leads Sanders, 45 percent to 42 percent, in a Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll of likely Democratic caucus-goers released Saturday ahead of the nation's first nominating contest. Former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley has 3 percent in the survey conducted Jan. 26-29.  Same old story.  Those "young" voters, many of whom have the minds of children, think Bernie is just so neat.  Bernie is a socialist who'll destroy even more than Obama destroyed.  Incredible:  The Democratic Party is deciding between a socialist who honeymooned in the Soviet Union, and Hillary Clinton, who's under an intense FBI investigation for mishandling the nation's highest secrets.  What a choice.

ANOTHER GREAT MOMENT IN EDUCATION – I must rush to Kentucky to take this course.  From eater.com:   Students at the University of Kentucky now have the distinct privilege of being able to get college credit for eating tacos. According to Munchies, the university is offering an undergraduate class called "Taco Literacy: Public Advocacy and Mexican Food in the US South," and the professor behind it wants to use tacos as an avenue for students to learn more about how people can forge social connections through food.  "This class allows our students to explore the issues of immigration, inequality, workers, intercultural communication, and literacy through the prism of food," Steven Alvarez, an assistant professor from the school's writing, rhetoric, and digital studies department told Munchies.  Through coursework that involves writing restaurant reviews, sampling tacos, and collecting data, students are meant to explore their community and develop skills to analyze "transnational community food literacies and how these connect the stories of people and food across borders," Alvarez said.

January 30, 2016