Predictably, Obama supporters and Hillary Haters are spinning last nights results as a result of manipulation on the part of Clinton or racism on the part of New Hampshire voters.
But the exit poll numbers totally prove this spin to be false. Instead they indicate that Clinton had a number of supporters who were behind her rationally but could not connect to her emotionally. She opened up in the last few days and gave those voters that were for her a reason to come to the polls.
The idea that Clinton's emotional moment changed enough minds to make a difference are debunked here.
http://time-blog.com/...
Among the seventeen percent of voters who said they made their choice on the primary day, Clinton edged Obama by a slight margin, 39% to 36%. Obama edged Clinton among the 21% of those who decided in the last three days (37-34), and beat her soundly among the 10% who decided sometime last week (43-28) and the 17% who made their decision in the last month (44-34). But among the 34% who said they had locked in their choice prior to the final month, Clinton dominated Obama by a margin of 48 to 31.
As for the Racism charge? Besides the fact that exit polling was equivalent to the actual results, Matthew Yglesias has the most convincing argument against it here.
http://matthewyglesias.theatlantic.c...
I should say we're seeing some talk of a "Wilder effect" possibly doing Obama in. I don't buy that. If you look at the breakdown of the results, you'd need to believe that white women, but not white men, are inclined to lie to pollsters about that. More likely we're looking at a combination of gender backlash, plus the fact that Obama was so widely perceived as likely to win led independents to vote for John McCain in the GOP primary.
Obama supporters have to realize it does not do their candidate any favors by diminishing Hillary's accomplishment here. They should instead be spinning their candidates accomplishment of getting a strong second place finish and realize that this would make him a better candidate.
Note: I am a Clinton supporter but I am excited by the potential of Obama, so as a polical junkie and a Democrat I'm in a win-win situation here.
As someone noted: First it was a race for Money which turned out to be a draw. Then it was a race for Momentum, which also seems to have turned out to be a draw. Now its a race for Delegates. This may not be over until the convention when John Edwards will play a crucial role. Exciting times.