Color me completely surprised. I thought, and the majority of bloggers and the MSM thought as well, that Hillary Clinton would get clobbered tonight in New Hampshire. As we all know now, that didn’t happen.
Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York rode a wave of female support to victory over Senator Barack Obama in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday night.
Mrs. Clinton’s victory came after her advisers had lowered expectations with talk of missteps in strategy and concern about Mr. Obama’s momentum coming out of the Iowa caucuses.
Mrs. Clinton told supporters, “I want especially to thank New Hampshire. Over the last week I listened to you and in the process I found my own voice.”
She added, “Together, let’s give America the kind of comeback New Hampshire has just given me.’
Mr. Obama conceded the race to Mrs. Clinton, congratulating her on a “hard-fought victory.”
He told cheering supporters in Manchester: “You made it clear in this moment and this election there is something happening in America. We are ready to take this country in a fundamentally new direction.”
Over the next few days, the exit poll data will be analyzed thoroughly and we’ll know more about how it was that Hillary came back from a double digit Obama victory to winning by 2 or 3 percent. Obviously women voters came out and believed her “Muskie moment” on Monday. Hillary connected with additional voters when she pulled out her can of whupass Saturday night during the debate. The question is now, can Hillary keep up the act? Can she script a tear on cue? Can she keep from yelling monotonously during campaign events which drives men crazy? We’ll see.
On the Republican side, no surprises at all. Everyone thought McCain would win and he did. The big question now is, what happens to Mitt Romney? Can he come back and win after losing Iowa and New Hampshire? Sure, he won Wyoming but no one is really paying attention to that. If anyone has the clock running against him, it’s Mitt.
One thing is for sure. This race remains wide open on both sides of the aisle.
Tags:
2008 Election, Barack Obama, Campaign, Hillary Clinton, New Hampshire, Politics, Republicans, Democrats, John McCain, Mitt Romney