It’s election night in New Hampshire as the tiny state of one million people helps select the next President. I’ll be flipping back and forth between the results and the hockey game so expect updates here throughout the evening. Given that I’m neither a New Hamshirite nor an American, I’m aware that my opinion doesn’t really matter but here’s my thoughts on the candidates who could still win the Presidency:
Democrats
I would have been on the Gore bandwagon had he decided to toss his hat in but, understandably, he’s happy winning everything except the Presidency (although some could argue he has already won that too…). As it is, I keep bouncing back and forth between the three front runners.
I really like what Barack Obama represents…I jut don’t really understand why he represents what he represents. I have yet to see any coherent argument as to why he represents “change” more than Edwards or Clinton but, hey, it’s a fun ride to watch and he’d make a hell of a candidate. But Hillary’s getting attacked by Lou Dobbs right now so that probably means she’s doing something right, and Edwards has as much charisma and better policy than either of the other two so I’d be fine with any of them.
Republicans
This race is the fun one. I’m joining Jesus and Chuck Norris in endorsing Mike Huckabee. Not only is a regular on the Colbert Report but, as pointed out recently by a few libloggers, he’s made a 22 Minutes cameo:
If you thought Stockwell Day was a fun candidate to follow, just imagine Stockwell Day with a sense of humour!
From Colbert’s buddy, we move to Jon Stewart’s. John McCain is expected to win tonight and has staged quite the comeback after being left for dead this fall. McCain is probably the most electable man in the field, although the generation gap is going to be the size of the Grand Canyon if it’s him against Obama. He gets full marks for the best line of the New Hampshire debates when he agreed wholeheartedly that Mitt Romney is the candidate of change.
Fred Thompson, to the best of my knowledge, is still in this race, but it’s possible he’s dropped out and I just missed it.
Rudy Giuliani is just hoping no one forgets about him by the time Super Tuesday rolls around. I don’t mind Rudy – he cameo’d on Seinfeld once – but I have a hard time endorsing someone if his win means having to look up the spelling of his name every time I post about him during his Presidency.
LIVE UPDATES:
8:00 pm: The polls close and CNN makes the ever-so-bold prediction that…John Edwards will be third! I guess they’re going to hold off on that bold “Richardson finishes fourth” call until some more data comes in.
8:05 pm: CNN is profiling Salem now. Full credit to Wolf Blitzer for resisting the obvious Hillary Clinton joke.
8:16 pm: CNN projects that McCain wins New Hampshire. I guess it’s time for Romney to get those push polls into the field in South Carolina…
8:32 pm: Clinton 40%, Obama 36%, Edwards 17%, Richardson 4%. You know, I’m shocked that Jed Bartlett’s endorsement in his home state couldn’t move votes for Richardson.
10:24 pm: Edwards is conceding now and he’s using the SNL Gore “health care” speech…or at least a very close approximation to it. Clinton’s up by over 4,000 votes with 63% of the polls in, so it certainly appears that she’ll eek this one out. Not a great result if you think about it but, given the polls over the last two days, it likely leaves the Democratic nomination as a pick ’em.
I think the take home message from tonight is that Super Tuesday is going to be very interesting for both parties. And, while it’s still early, does anyone else get the sense that the Republican nomination might actually come down to a delegated convention?