Clinton's Surprise Win

Well, obviously Rebecca seems to favor Hillary. I looked at the exact same situation and was stunned that Edwards (who placed AHEAD of Hillary in Iowa) was never even mentioned in the media prior to New Hampshire. And when the media did decide Edwards was worth a sentence or two it was to wonder why he hadn't thrown himself on his sword after placing only 2nd in Iowa? Or to wonder if he may actually be a racists for not dropping out and allowing Obama the head to head with Hillary he so obviously deserved? So if Rebecca is wondering if "bad media" fired up the locals -- why didn't see think the bad media Edwards got would fire up his supporters? The whole issue here is that Hillary was basically blessed by God almighty two years ago to be the defacto nominee and ACTED as if the whole "campaign thing" was beneath her or, at best, a formality she had to go through before the crown was passed rightfully to her. Um, the rest of us don't really see HOW Hillary deserves it. Al Gore? Yes, HE deserves it. Hillary? She was a Senator for 5mins and then ran for President. If it wasn't for her name she wouldn't even be here because she isn't a great speaker like Obama nor does she have a voting record that is any way Progressive (it's barely Democratic!) I for one am glad the Princess got a little rude awakening. Just because she was married to the President doesn't mean she is automatically entitled to become President after spending 5mins in the Senate and not passing (or even supporting) any legislation the people care about. Look at Biden and Richardson and Kuccinich -- these guys EARNED a spot at the table through blood, sweat and tears. Hillary is married to Bill and that alone means she can skip directly to "GO" and collect $200? This girl didn't earn it and she's saying she's ready to lead on day one? She has the gall to say this in front of a room full of people like Biden and Richardson who have decades more experience than she does. I think she is delusional.

The real fun is following the money. The Dems are spending 2 to 1 over Republicans. I think the momentum is still stalling in the red states and I don't think much of the middle states are going to throw themselves into it. The other thing is that a lot of the western states were red 8 years ago and now are becoming slim Democrat majorities. 5 of the 7 formely Republican states in the west now have moderate Democrat governors.

So that should all be important for both the primaries and the general election.

can't we ratchet up the production values a notch or so?

Good analysis. I think the next few weeks will be an exciting time, with tons of speculation, as we wait to see who the final presidential candidates will be.

An insightful analysis of Clinton's win in New Hampshire--it will be interesting to see what happens over the next few weeks. Will voters support the media favorites or not?

She spoke frankly, not emotionally on 1/7. That's what did it. The fact of the matter was that she came in third in Iowa, only 2% ahead in New Hampshire, and yet the "elite liiiiiiiberal" media passes her off as the condigned candidate. Obama still has 25 delegate votes as of right now to her 24.

Our personal choices are irrellevant to group behavior. Group identity and coherence are the strongest factors in any large-scale behavior, particularly such formalistic behavior such as voting. It's really the only thing we do on a national level where most of the country affected by it won't bother to engage it. Politics can be said to be boring or stupid, but most of the country will have voted by 2/5, and the rest of the big state primaries are just window dressing.

What's different this time is that there is no incumbent, and the outcome will be broad sweeping.

The election's shaping up somewhat like Putin's victory last month: this is the plebescite test, November's just a referendum.

of course it was gleeful. she is another rank and file, business as usual politician.
she was a wal-mart lawyer for god sakes, of course we were glad.