1.09.2008

New Hampshire

Interesting result coming out of New Hampshire's primaries. The Republican outcome, if you consider the polls in the few days preceding the casting of ballots, wasn't a huge surprise. Unfortunately for Romney, it was significant reversal considering he had put so much energy into campaigning there.

What will be fascinating to see is how the Iowa and New Hampshire results carry over to the rest of the primaries. One commentator reckons Romney for dead, given that the candidates overall strategy seemed tied to his doing well, that is, winning, in the two early states. However, someone else remarked that we might see a lot of "one hit wonders," Huckabee in Iowa, McCain in New Hampshire, etc., before it becomes really clear who will be the frontrunner. This assessment is attributed to the supposed lack of any die hard conservative candidate who can command wide acceptance as the nominee to go up against the Democratic nominee, who will certainly be on the far liberal side of the party.

As for the Dems, it's the conventional wisdom is that older women and Republicans are celebrating today after Hillary's victory. The question is, though, how did she win after momentum seemed to be going Obama's way after Iowa and polls seem to corroborate this feeling. Daniel Finkelstein lays out 6 possible explanations to Hillary's "comeback" win over at the Times Online (HT: Pajamas Media). Which do you think is most likely?

1 comment:

yellowinter said...

i think it's more of women voter factor, esp with her "misty-eye" moment on monday. i have to say that she did make me think twice this past weekend during NH debate.
chris matthews and few other pundits think that bradley effect and race was a factor here, but i'm not quite sure about that. when i first heard about it, i thought they must be joking, but i'm kinda wondering now. although it seems like times is saying that exit polls were correct, but i've heard otherwise, in which case bradley effect is in question...
nonetheless, this is a wide open race, and it sure is fascinating to watch. :)