Did Hillary Tears Scam Swing the Vote?
The funniest thing about the New Hampshire primary was Bill Clinton whining about the media. With signature Clinton audacity, Bill had the stones to complain that the media has not provided the needed scrutiny of Barack Obama. Then Hillary Rodham Clinton tries the tears angle. And considering the many reports indicating a substantial number of voters did not make up their mind more than a few days or even hours before the polls opened, it is not unreasonable to think the polls were not wrong but that NH voters changed their minds in the hours before the vote.
If the polls were right on Obama leading by at least 5 points in NH after a victory in Iowa and he takes second place in NH behind by 3%, again, it is reasonable to conclude with the women’s numbers in NH that the ‘tiny tears’ or mix and match Barbie routine of HRC turned the vote for a narrow Clinton victory. And as for the slick Willie media scrutiny complaint, where are those First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton docs Bill?
The questions and scrutiny of Obama or any other candidate pale in 
comparison to the scrutiny required of the Clinton scandals, from Whitewater and Vince Foster through TravelGate, the impeachment of the former President, Lewinsky and Norman Hsu as well as the locked up First Lady documents . The Clinton transgressions are getting a walk in another Presidential election. But commenting earlier this month on this blog that Karl Rove was right and HIllary Rodham Clinton is the GOP’s easiest target in a general election gets a boost in NH this week.
With the possible exception of Biden and Dodd dropping out of the race, nothing has really been decided yet. On the Dems side it’s one for Obama and one for Clinton with 
Edwards edging 2nd in Iowa and third in NH. For the GOP it’s one for Huckabee, one for McCain and one for Romney. That’s right, Romney won the GOP caucus in WY. In the big picture NH may be a psychological and traditional statistical measure for candidates but WY’s 3 electoral votes are nearly as important as NH’s 4 at this point in the campaign. Besides the one quiet state victory for Romney is the 2nd place finish in Iowa and NH although it should be noted that fact alone makes the nomination a tougher objective.
What will make this even more interesting on the GOP side is if Romney takes Michigan, Thompson takes SC and Giuliani takes Florida with his big electoral state strategy. The funny part for the Dems is Clinton has to win Michigan since Obama and Edwards are not on the ballot with the controversy over moving up the date. It is fair to say that for this blog’s candidate, Mitt Romney, the Michigan primary is serious. Here’s a little review from USA Today on the Michigan story.
The national committees of both parties are not happy with Michigan’s decision to move the voting date. While rules and regs are important it may illuminate a concern about how much control party politics has over elections that should be decided by citizens, one vote at a time. But then we all know that is not exactly how it works. For all the outrage expressed over questionable elections in other countries there appears to be little effective scrutiny over the way we do such business in this country. But that’s another story for another time.