History In New Hampshire

CLINTON CAME BACK!!

AP CALLS IT FOR CLINTON, NBC, CBS TOO

** A Clinton aide: "We got our woman back and our downscale voters back and we raised the right questions about choice."
** Strategist Mark Penn: "As voters began to see the choice they have and heard Hillary speak from her heart they came back to her."
** Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe: "It's a two-person race. We're ready to go"
** Obama: "I am still fired up, ready to go!"..touts record numbers who "spoke up for change..."
** Obama aide: "FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT" -- SC is next -- "What we are is on an incredible, historic journey...are we going to let her take that away from us?"


Obama leadership cloistered to figure out what the heck happened; Clinton campaign readies "Comeback Girl" spin; readies surrogates; GENDER GAP: CLINTON WINS WOMEN 47 TO 34....Obama campaign hopes for Durham (where school isn't in) and Hanover (Dartmouth) for last minute votes...Exeter is also out. ... but Clinton leading big in big cities...Manchester and Nashua... Obama winning women under 30....

RESULTS: GOP: 53% reporting McCain..37%..Romney..31%....Huckabee...12%.....Giuliani....9%...Paul... 8%

DEM: 68% reporting: Clinton: 39%...Obama 36%..Edwards 17%......

** Turnout estimate: 500,000, with 280K Democrats and 220K Republicans...exactly what
Secretary of State Bill Gardner projected.....
** Will Clinton come out first, like Bill in '92?....
** Remember: turnout guru Michael Whouley blessed the New Hampshire organization of HRC and didn't set foot in Iowa......
** Other HRC organization heroes: national political director Guy Cecil, senior adviser/program manager Karen Hicks, state director Nick Clemons...
** HRC enjoying company of friends, Terry McAuliffe, in happy private celebration in Concord
** The campaign had 150 field staff in NH...
** They knocked on 120,000 doors over the weekend... thousands more today...

Comments

I'm so relieved the people of New Hampshire rejected the empty suit. Also sitting here with a smile thinking of all the Obama-bots that were posting here last night shitting their pants.

I hope Obama enjoyed being prince of the world for a day.

Posted by JFD | January 8, 2008 9:40 PM

Bill came out first in New Hampshire in '92?

Posted by JenJen | January 8, 2008 9:52 PM

The empty suit

How pathetic. Classic Clinton politics. Its what's going to kill us in the general.

Posted by Brian | January 8, 2008 10:03 PM

What happens now with the Culinary Workers endorsement? Does Obama still get it?

Posted by jmscher | January 8, 2008 10:37 PM

Terry McAuliffe: "Ready to go." Yeah Terry? Are ya FIRED UP, too?

Posted by herb | January 8, 2008 10:47 PM

Marc - isn't it interesting (according to the CNN exit poll data) that Hillary actually won the 25-29 age bracket by a few points? Isn't that supposed to be Obama supporters? As a member of that age bracket (and a supporter of Hillary) I'm reminded that I was actually in high school when the Clinton s were in office while the college students were in junior high. Maybe that's the difference?

Posted by james | January 8, 2008 10:55 PM

Came back from what? Bad polling?

Take a deep breath and calm down.

Voters who responded to Bill's whining and Hillary's whimpering are barely dragging her across the finish line, where she is winning by a 2-point nose.

2 points.

The basic dynamic of this race has not changed at all.

Posted by horizonr | January 9, 2008 12:02 AM

While not fan of Sen. Clinton, I have to give her congrats on a win that her husband couldn't even pull off.

She got the Gold in NH and is really the "Comeback Kid". Huge upsset!

http://thepoliticalpost.wordpress.com/2008/01/08/hillary-clinton-wins-nh-against-all-odds-and-conventional-wisdom/

Posted by thepoliticalpost | January 9, 2008 12:13 AM

Her false mailers make me unsympathetic.

False claims about Obama's pro-choice record:

http://tpmelectioncentral.com/2008/01/ hillary_mailer_hits_obama_on_abortion.php

Rove-style attack politics:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0108/ ProHillary_mail_Be_very_afraid.html

DOVER, N.H. – Facing the prospect of defeat in tomorrow’s primary, Hillary Clinton just made her strongest suggestion yet that the next president may face a terrorist attack – and that she would be the best person to handle it.

She pointed out that the day after Gordon Brown took office as the British prime minister, there was a failed attempt at a double bombing in London and Glasgow.

“I don’t think it was by accident that Al Qaeda decided to test the new prime minister,” she said. “They watch our elections as closely as we do, maybe more closely than some of our fellows citizens do…. Let’s not forget you’re hiring a president not just to do what a candidate says during the election, you want a president to be there when the chips are down.”

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/ 2008/01/clinton_heighte.html

Posted by bob | January 9, 2008 12:14 AM

1. Romney
2. Paul
3. Women
4. Whouley
How are they going to recreate that?

Posted by JC | January 9, 2008 12:42 AM

#1, JFD
Thank you for that precise post, today it was really a victory of rational politics about fairy tale and demagogy. I admire the voters in New Hampshire.
http://www.bl.baytor.de/

Posted by Hartmut Dresia | January 9, 2008 1:56 AM

Edwards needs to make a choice.

Does he want to advance change or win a semantics fight with Obama?

His words are he and Obama are on the same stage, but he wants a direct debate with Obama about how to get it.

We won't get it at all if we keep splitting the change vote, will we JE?

I hope he either gets viable pretty quickly or gets out. He's hurting no one but the folks he claims to want to help by handing HRC the nomination.

Posted by G Davis | January 9, 2008 2:39 AM

"Downscale voters"? What a bizarre marketing euphemism for poor.

One interesting factoid from the exit polls. Obama won among weekly churchgoers and people who never go to church. Clinton won people who go to church occasionally. Is it me, or did Obama just bridge the gap between the religious and athiests?

Posted by Helter | January 9, 2008 6:12 AM

I send condolences to Obama supporters. Congratulations to Hillary supporters. One contributor suggests Edwards should get out of the way to support Obama. Since I am supporting Edwards, and supported him in the last electoral cycle as well, perhaps supporters in both camps y will now have have an inkling how we Edwards folks felt coming out of Iowa twice in four years. Why do we still hang in there even though he hasn't won one of the first two contests? Edwards himself, of course, is imperfect. I realize that after seeing him lose. But despite that, I think we are impressed by his determination, his tenacity, his consistently progressive policies (a much better healthcare plan than that proposed by Obama) and his willingness to fight for them and for the ordinarly working people they would benefit. He continues to advocate for them with dogged strength and an optimistic demeanor. We are convinced that there are serious flaws in both his competitors (Hillary's high negatives and ability to galvanize the opposition, coupled with the public's desire to move beyond the Clinton/Bush presidential cycles; Obama's lofty rhetoric but less substantive policies and lack of experience). We think Edwards' strengths (years of both real-life experience as a top advocate taking on and beating powerful banks of corporate lawyers; rural working class roots; win against the Helms machine in NC, ongoing support for labor etc.) bode well for him to be the best possible winning nationwide candidate. Regarding questions about where Edwards supporters go now, who knows? Our bottom line is a democratic victory (because we feel that it will forward the policies we favor), but because we honestly feel that the party is missing its chance in that regard by focusing on only the two frontrunners. I think a number of us Edwards supporters will think long and hard about which of the less effective candidates will have the best chance in the general election. Speaking for myself, if Edwards drops out I may just stand back and watch the process until the winner is selected. Hope he keeps fighting for the progressive economic policies he represents.

Posted by popudem | January 9, 2008 7:09 AM