Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Horserace!

With Hillary's New Hampshire win in the face of polls suggesting that she would be thumped and John Edwards' respectable showing comes the realization that the race for the democratic nomination is still very much up for grabs.

What can be seen is that Obama and Hillary are suddenly picking up the populist bent which keeps Edwards close to them in the quest for the prize.

What then to attribute the stunning result? How about the fact that when she showed a bit of her human side the day before when she succumbed, just a bit, to the stress caused by the pace of the campaign the major media all jumped on her as if she were an axe murderer?

She cannot win for losing with the clowns and talking heads that make up the media. When she displays no emotion they fault her for being uncaring yet when she slips and shows a bit of her human side they fault her for being weak, faking it or both.

In any event the real story of Iowa and New Hampshire, to my mind, has been the number of voters participating in the primaries. Turnout has been spectacular, which is a good thing and the fact that democrats are turning out in numbers roughly doubling that of republicans should tell us something.

To my mind, the disparity is a sign that independents have had enough of the disaster that is the Bush presidency and if the trend continues through to November, it will likely mean a democrat in the White House but more importantly, it will also likely mean a congressional sweep that will make 2006 look like small potatoes.

So hold on to your hats and hang on tight for this thing isn't over yet and for the first time in a long, long time we may have a convention where neither candidate has the votes required for the nomination.

That would not be a bad thing.