New Hampshire

Wow.  There was something somewhat unexpected.  If you’ve been following the polls, this was not what the pundits expected of the primary.  This probably makes the upcoming primaries even more interesting for the democrats (maybe for the republicans, too 🙂 ).  I had a meeting today that kept me away from the majority of the coverage tonight, but I got back in time to see the AP call for Clinton, and then CNN do the same.  Obama’s speech was still quite good tonight, even with the second-place finish (admittedly, it was probably the same speech he would have given anyway, but with the addition of the concession).  It sounded like Edwards gave almost the same speech he did last time.  Clinton’s speech was certainly better than it was in Iowa, but still:  HILLARY, STOP READING FROM A PIECE OF PAPER ON YOUR PODIUM.  I mean, seriously, I’m sure you can afford a teleprompter.  Or if that isn’t convenient, go for an in-ear audio prompter.  They look like a hearing aid.  Nobody would notice, and you’d look as polished and confident as Obama.  I do have to say that she probably did a good thing by being the only person on stage for her speech this time.  I’m still a big Bill fan, but she seemed to take more ownership of her campaign with that move, and I liked that. 

Yeah, I’m still relatively undecided.  I’m going to be interested to see if anyone drops out tomorrow.  I can’t see Gravel doing anything else.  Kucinich is, well, Kucinich.  Guiliani is still holding-out for Florida, I guess.  Whatever, dude.  Paul and Thompson are pretty far out there, too.  I guess the low-runners probably have enough supporters and cash to run up to Super Tuesday, if they’re lucky.  I don’t know how much actual campaigning they’ll be able to do there, but they could probably stay in it.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see some campaigns die tomorrow, though. 

So there’s the fun, and a completely biased, odd-man-out look at the New Hampshire primaries. 

jonathan