Nashua, Obama Party - No matter what happens tonight, congratulations to Bill and Hillary and their whole campaign. As I've been writing for the last 2 days, conventional wisdom and the public polling up here had Obama winning solidly.
Once again, at the end of the day, it is the voters who have the last word. And I hope that - whether Hillary wins or just comes close - she goes on to Nevada and South Carolina.
Update: 1am, Manchester.
So, once again New Hampshire delivers for both McCain and Clinton. What a night. I will have more tomorrow, but what this means is that we now have very competitive races in both parties, and a three part race now. In the next few weeks both parties move to a handful of states, then to Super Duper Tuesday, and then what comes after. As I wrote below, given the enormity of the 23 state Feb 5th vote, the game increasingly becomes about free media. The power of field and paid advertising will yield to a very different kind of campaign now. It's critical for candidates on both sides to win states in the final single state period to gain the momentum they need for the free media dominated Feb 5th.
On the Democratic side I think you are also going to see an extraordinary web-based fundraising and mobilization effort. Given how the map will expand, the campaigns will have to rely much more on their existing pool of supporters to be their field and fundraising operations. There just aren't enough days left for the candidates to raise money the old fashioned way. So you will see a great emphasis from the campaigns on turning their existing network of supporters into something much bigger, something that may be aided by the expansion of the race into half the country in just a month. The power of the web will be tested in this next wave - note how Hillary made a direct appeal tonight in her remarks for people to visit her site.
So what will the Culinary Workers in Nevada do tomorrow at 11am?
I am off to bed for an early flight to DC tomorrow. It has been a big day, an important day, and I do stand corrected - once again a Clinton was the comeback kid in the New Hampshire primary.
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