A Victory

Wow... what a night.

~230,000 Democrats caucused, almost twice the number that caucused in 2004. That's amazing.

Obama had a great victory for him, and I don't see how he could lose New Hampshire (unless he really messes up).
His victory speech was great.

Edwards finished second, but honestly, I have come to the conclusion that that too is a victory. The question is how the result will play out in the media. Edwards beat Clinton (by a small margin), even though both Obama and Clinton outspend him by 3:1 each... plus all the paid staffers the two campaigns had.
Edwards gave a great speech that his supporters wanted to hear. The question is whether the speech will resonate with other people.

Clinton bombed. This was the worst possible outcome for her. A decisive Obama win. Clinton will likely finish 2nd or 3rd in New Hampshire.
Her speech was pretty good, but not great. Her only option: Go nuclear against Obama. She has to attack his lack of experience, his never having fought through a real election, and anything else she can.


On the Republican side, the evangelicals turned out and gave Huckabee a major victory. His speech was also well done. If he is wise, he will spend only a little time in New Hampshire and instead focus on S. Carolina and other states. The northeast is NOT going to be Huckabee country. Romney is in deep crap. We'll see how McCain does in New Hampshire. My guess is that the establishment gets behind McCain VERY quickly if he does well in New Hampshire.

Anyways, I prefer caucuses to general primary/elections because voters seem to be more informed. It takes time and effort. To me, that is what a democracy/republic is all about: you are willing to invest time to help run your country, to choose wisely... even if you choose someone I would not choose.

On a final note, I hope Obama will stop going after the Democratic constituencies and instead focus on going after Republicans. Seriously, they WILL NOT COMPROMISE WITH YOU NOR WILL THEY BOW DOWN AND LET YOU ENACT WHATEVER REFORM YOU LIKE. The best example for this is FDR in 1932 (and 1936?). He had to fight tooth and nail to get some of his reforms put in place. There were a lot of judicial challenges among other hurdles.

I will probably be in New Hampshire this weekend.
Go John Edwards!

-Zen Blade