New Hampshire Aftermath

I feel good for the people of NH who can now wash the slime layer left by the various candidates down the sewer and get back to the business of being cold.

So what did we learn? Exit polls are garbage and always have been no matter how you spin them. We learned Diebold helps Dems cheat and not just the evil Bush junta (according to the stunted brains at DU) and we learned that regular phone polling and prognostication are essentially a junk science like global warming.

Hillary was picked by no one and when she kept hanging and hanging I watched Larry Sabato on Fox look stunned and a bit sickened. Granted, this is the "independent" state of New Hampshire whose motto is "Live Free or Die" but the pollsters are shocked by just how off they were.

Hillary gains some momentum and Obama loses some. It's now a two-horse race and let's see how the big O deals with some pressure. Edwards is toast regardless of his protestations.

On the GOP side, things are in disarray and won't settle down until Super Tuesday. The last remaining long shot is Thompson and he's all-in on South Carolina. Huck had a dismal showing last night and needs South Carolina as well. Romney holds the most delegates but only has a small win in Wyoming while McCain is counting on a Michigan miracle. We saw that momentum in politics, just like sports, is a constantly shifting thing.

Update: I can't disagree with Robert Novak anymore that this thing is even remotely settled.

For political junkies like myself, this is like March Madness, the baseball playoffs, a hockey shootout and the Superbowl all in one month and a half.