On the Republican side, a big win for John McCain. The final nail in the coffin for the Romney campaign, or is there space for a couple more? Time will tell on that one. But one thing is for sure: Romney’s strategy was a dismal failure — the Republican analyst on NPR called tonight a “humiliation” and a “story of failure” (or something along those lines) for the Romney campaign. He spent a ton of money to win Iowa and New Hampshire. He succeeded in doing neither. He has nowhere to go from here. He has enough money to keep slogging to second- and third-place finishes for a few more weeks and months, if he wants to. But it’s just a vanity candidacy at this point. (Then again, wasn’t it always?)
As for the Democrats, as of this moment the race remains too close to call — with 48% reporting, Clinton is holding about a 4,000 vote edge (out of around 125,000 counted). But this already has to count as a victory for Hillary Clinton, even if at the end of the night she ends up a close second (and that’s looking increasingly unlikely). The polls over the last couple of days were proclaiming a gigantic Obama surge, with some showing him winning by double digits. Ain’t gonna happen tonight. Remember the comeback kid? The kid is back — and this time the kid’s a girl. đŸ˜‰
IMHO, the news on the Democratic side should be welcomed by all Democrats, even those who don’t like Hillary. A win, or a close second-place finish, for Clinton means that the race is still wide open — there is no prohibitive front-runner. Even Edwards fans should be pleased, given his distant third-place finish — Edwards never had any chance of taking over the “change” mantle from Obama if Obama had a big NH win. Now it’s a fluid race again, even though I still wonder where Edwards is going to make his stand.
Most importantly, it’s not just two small states that get to decide the race for the rest of the country. Iowa and New Hampshire weeded out a bunch of second-tier candidates, and they proved that Obama can actually win a contested election. But they didn’t decide it. So Nevada will matter. South Carolina will matter. Even Massachusetts, and the rest of the gang who votes on super-duper Tuesday, will matter. Three cheers for democracy!
An exciting day in the Granite State. This with the visual of the dirigible…
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p>How sweet it is!
I agree. It has been far too long since there’s been a real race, one where the public has an opportunity to really see a few candidates with real chances to win past the first few primaries.
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p>Problem now is this – can the Ds refrain from eating each other? Will they show their positive sides and positions to us voters or will they try to beat the crud out of each other? Keeping my fingers crossed.
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p>Excellent question, Political Interaction. Unfortunately, all too often, the Democrats not only attack each other viciously, but all too often get involved in these Hillary-bashing fests, which are also a total waste of energy that should be spent trying to fight the Right-wing agenda(s) in this country.
a border state where he spent a ton on money and even has a summer home in lake winnipesaukee.
It looks like the eastern border counties of Hillsborough and Rockingham might go narrowly for the Mittster—at the moment, Mitt’s slightly in the lead in Rockingham with 90% reporting, and Hillborough (80%) has just flipped back to McCain after going back and forth for the past hour.
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p>The further you get away from those two, the worse Romney does. Huckabee was a very close third in Coos County, where Romney didn’t even break 20% and lost to McCain by over 2 to 1.
Listening to his “I won the silver speech”, I’m taken with how he talks about fixing Washington, how he’ll get stuff done, and how one needs someone from outside Washington who knows how to get stuff done.
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p>First, I’m just plain unconvinced by this “argument”. It seems lameness itself. There is not some generic ability people have to Get Stuff Done — as if it were a talent like spatial relations or perfect pitch. It’s difficult to think that McCain would be less effective at getting his legislation passed than Romney.
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p>Since it’s so lame, it seems more like marketing to me. Underlying it is an “I’m a good daddy” narrative that I find a bit condescending. Almost offensive. He’ll do what’s best for me without having to check with me whether I regard it as best for me.
I think that McCain would probably have an easier time getting legislature passed, due to his being more experienced in many of the areas that really matter, including foreign policy, etc. However, McCain is too conservative for my liking. That not withstanding, however, McCain’s got a rather Vesuvian temper, which he’s displayed publicly on numerous occasions…he seems kind of unstable, although not like Bill O’Reilly. In any case, somebody like that isn’t somebody that I’d want to see leading our country, be they Republican or Democrat.
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p>I agree with you about Romney, also. His “father knows best” attitude is rather sickening…and too old fasioned, imho.
My husband and I were talking last night during the returns and we both agreed that we would like to see McCain as the Republican nominee even though we’re Democrats. McCain is a true Patriot and as much as I don’t agree with him on everything, he is what he is.
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p>We were watching MSNBC and they were saying that Romney’s advisors were trying to talk him into leaving the race now, untarnished for the most part, because they think he has a future in politics. Yeah, only if he a position and sticks with it. His speech was so awful such a slickster.
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p>Does anyone even know if Mass is going to go for him? Is it too late to switch parties?
You have until January 16 to register to vote — which includes switching parties.
McCain is the only Republican candidate with any trace of sanity or decency. Unlike the others, he takes global warming seriously and respects the Constitution. (But he’s pretty awful on everything else).
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p>I will vote Democratic in the final election, but given the increasing likelihood of her nomination and subsequent defeat (she has over 40% negatives), it is important that the Republican nominee be one who will do minimal damage to our country and the world.
I’d love to see the final nail in Romney’s coffin, but he’s still, at this early stage, ahead in the delegate count.
If Mitt continues to finish a reasonably close second or third place, and if Huckabee and McCain split the remaining first place finishes between them, Mitt could rack up enough delegates to win the convention.
Mitt’s not where he wants to be, but he’s not dead yet.
of well funded Massachusetts based pols with HIGH name recognition who LOST the New Hampshire Primary…currently the only other member of the club is….
Teddy Kennedy.
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p>The irony quite frankly makes me giddy.
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p>I hope Mitt Romney spends himself into triple bankruptcy trying to win the Michigan and South Carolina primaries.
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p>Then we can watch his head explode from sheer humiliation…
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p>:D
John Adams and John Quincy Adams were both MA based pols, and they didn’t win the NH primary đŸ˜‰