Well, the polls have just closed and it's kind of close, with results jumping around. But I think a few observations can be made about what this election means for Democrats. By the way, I ended up being in my house most of the day, except for voting, because my cold got worse so I missed this beautiful weather.
I caught a cold after being outside for an hour and a half at Midnight on New Year's Eve, when I attended and spoke at the Civil Unions ceremonies at the State House Plaza. It was a freezing chill that night, although a wonderful event with 37 wonderful couples having Civil Unions. So I stayed home and made telephone calls and sent E-Mails for my chosen candidate, Hillary Clinton. We'll see how she does.
Back to this New Hampshire First-In-The-Nation Presidential Primary, it was just amazing. The turnout was probably the highest ever, and that's incredible because we always have a high turnout.
There are four special reasons, in my judgement, about why this is good for New Hampshire Democrats:
1. Great Turnout: Reword that to "Fantastic Turnout." That indicates a lot of coming successes for Democrats in New Hampshire and nationally in November. Like in November of 2006, the national situation will again turn out the voters in November, and they will likely vote Democrat. There's no guarantee in that, but whomever our Presidential nominee is, if we get behind him or her, we win in November. Big.
2. Independents Voted Democrat: That's going to be very helpful to Democrats in November. We now have the database of voter lists that won't cost much to update and which gives us most of what we need to know for November. We know who voted on Tuesday, January 8th -- and our job in November will be to get them to vote again then.
3. Democrats Have Positive Messages: Right across the board, the Democratic Presidential candidates led the debates and discussion on issues of corporation donations, Iraq, health care, economics, and foreign policy. Our lineup of candidates looked diverse and talented; the Republican lineup looked exclusively white-male, middle-aged, corporate-minded, and self-centered.
4. The New Hampshire First-In-The-Nation Presidential Primary is alive and well, and more relevant than ever. Sure, it would have been sweet to have more than just five days between Iowa and New Hampshire, but everyone had to campaign with that schedule in mind, Iowa didn't unduly influence New Hampshire voters -- we're smart too -- and the impact of our Primary will be felt for a while because the next event for Republicans isn't until Michigan in a week, and the Democrats in Nevada in eleven days. New Hampshire counts.
No matter who wins the New Hampshire Presidential race here in New Hampshire, we know three more things:
1. Barack Obama Is A Great Candidate. An intelligent candidate. He has personality and the power of a message. No tricks. Not a lot of big endorsements. Just an ability to get people to like him. And people who liked him worked hard.
2. Hillary Clinton Is A Great Candidate. While from my view she's been overly-managed and her advertising wasn't inspirational, there is plenty of time and much room for Hillary To Be Hillary. I support her because I think she would make a wonderful President. In recent days we saw her be more "real," more "authentic." When people get to know her, people get to like her.
3. The Republicans are having an interesting race, as are the Democrats. John McCain is incredible, but Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee aren't finished. And Rudy Giuliani is waiting in other states for them all. Should be fun!
We also know that no one should withdraw from the race after the NH Primary. That's not what the New Hampshire Primary about. We shouldn't be an elimination round. I wish Chris Dodd and Joe Biden had not withdrawn after just one caucus. At this point, fewer than half a million Democrats have voted. About the same percentages are true about the Republicans. The Democrats and Republicans in the rest of the nation deserve to have their opportunity to view the candidates, ask their questions, and make their choices.
Looking at this as a lifelong Democrat, I think this race and the quality of all the Democratic candidates including John Edwards and Bill Richardson shows New Hampshire Democrats that we have to make sure that as part of our political dialogue we make it clear that it's not "us" against "them" -- meaning not about Democrats vs. Republicans. Nor is it all about raising as much money as possible. We need to win in November by showing that we are willing to take meaningful and idealistic positions on campaign finance disclosure and refusing corporate political donations, and in favor of economic reform that includes taking on the corporations and the way they abuse working men and women.
Once again, the New Hampshire First-In-The-Nation Presidential Primary has shown it has tremendous value for American democracy.
ADVERTISEMENTS 