Hillary Wins in NH

"Let's see- a pound of BS, add a touch of salt and a few teardrops-Voila! I am still the fairest of them all, Fousesquawk!"


Polls-shmolls! So much for the "experts", the pundits and the pollsters who were all telling us that Obama was running away with the New Hampshire Primary. Double digits, indeed! Maybe that will teach us a lesson about the value of listening to the talking heads who are "so much more knowledgable" than the rest of us. When the polls opened in New Hampshire, everyone-including the Clinton camp was of the opinion that Obama would win in a cakewalk. What happened?

Whatever it was-and there are a lot of explanations- I hope that it wasn't simply because of Hillary's show of "emotion" the other day. If that is enough to swing an election-or primary-then heaven help us all. Ralph Reed even opined that if Clinton goes on to victory, then that episode will go down as the signature turning point of the campaign. If true, what does that say about the electorate-especially that super-sophisticated electorate in New Hampshire? Some others say that possibly the voters in the Granite State were rebelling against the conventional wisdom that they were going to go for Obama. Who knows? Rest assured that many of the same pundits who predicted a double-digit Obama win will now explain to us how Hillary pulled it out.

Was it just me, or was John Edwards angry in his speech last night? I thought his references to the other 99% of the electorate who have yet to vote was kind of a slap at the tiny states of New Hampshire and Iowa. Of course, he dragged out his old Oliver Twist speech again. With all due respect to the names of the unfortunate people he mentioned and their families,how many times can you repeat the same lines?

Obama, for his part, adopted more of the preacher style in his concession speech, trying to fire up his obviously disappointed followers.

Hillary was classic Hillary. No more tears. Now she has her confidence and her arrogance back. The question is-will she try to repeat the emotion act? How many times can you shed crocodile tears if you want to be president?

The best speech, in my view, was from the Republican victor, McCain, in spite of the fact that he had to read it and occasionally stumbled. The words (at least to me) were inspiring and focused on the real number one issue-the War against Islamic Terror-an issue all but ignored in the Democratic speeches. Huckabee focused on the kindness and hospitality of the New Hampshire people-very classy.

Thompson, of course, had already gotten out of Dodge (to South Carolina) and wasn't around to express his gratitude for the single digits that had voted for him.

Hey Rudy! How's the weather down there in Florida?

I guess we will all have to wait for "Super Tuesday" to get a real idea how this will end up. In the meantime, we should take the prognostications with a grain of salt. (As I write this, I am watching the Fox News polls for South Carolina.)