Wednesday, February 10, 2016

The News from New Hampshire

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

The New Hampshire primary, part of America's electoral early warning system, is over - and the surprises this year were few.  Bernie Sanders was expected to win the Democratic primary - and he did, big.  Donald Trump was anticipated to win the Republican primary, and he also did, big.


The Sanders win was wide as well as deep with the candidate winning just about every demographic - including women!   (Clinton apparently did win with voters over the age of sixty-five and those making over $200,000 a year.)   It was such a thorough and convincing victory that here I sit, fifteen or so hours after the polls closed, without a single email from Bill, Chelsea, or James Carville trying to convince me that Hillary beat expectations.  She didn't.  Hillary did send out a nice email saying she would fight on.  And she will - and it will still be a very long and tough race - just like 2008.


The Republican surprises were among the also-rans.  Governor Kasich of Ohio, perhaps the least loony and dangerous of the entire field, came in second.  Ted (Joe McCarthy lookalike) Cruz finished third, Jebya barely slipped into fourth, fifth was Marco Rubio, and Chris Christie was sixth.  Some opinionators are labeling Christie's debate performance this week as a murder/suicide mission where his goal was to destroy Rubio.  He seems to have been successful both with a political murder and a political suicide.  Christie is apparently on the verge of dropping out, and Rubio, much like Bush, is too stunned and incoherent to be much of a threat to anyone.  And then there's Carly Who.

The Democrats are likely still headed toward the eventual nomination of Hillary, though Bernie's chances grow - however incrementally - every day.  The road to the nomination will be anything but a cakewalk regardless of who finally grabs the crown.

The Republicans seem hell-bent on nominating a xenophobic, homophobic, misogynistic, racist, billionaire bully - and fortunately for them one has stepped forward to grab their crown - and there seems to be nothing that ordinary conservatives can do to stop the Trump juggernaut. 

But, it's still a very long way to November, and the road to the White House is pocked with many potholes.  The eventual winner may have not even announced yet.

1 comment:

Xobekim said...

Bernie indeed finished with an historic margin of victory for the Democratic New Hampshire Primary. Thanks to that bureaucratic stasis the Democratic National Committee characterizes as "super delegates" Bernie and Hillary left Granite State tied for its delegates to the convention.

The next time Hillary protests being labeled as the "establishment" candidate she should be reminded that her campaign is being kept on life support at this time by the infusion of super delegates being given to her by her cronies.