Tuesday, January 08, 2008

As Obama wins first real votes in NH, is Hillary preparing to quit?

The first 17 votes from the tiny outpost of Dixville Notch have already been counted - and there's no comfort for Hillary who didn't pick up a single vote.

While most communities of New Hampshire vote this evening, the settlement of Dixville Notch on the border with Canada traditionally stay up until after midnight the night before everyone else votes, so they can be the first community in their state to declare.

So very American!

Obama picked up seven of the ten Democrat votes from Dixville Notch.

More worrying for Hillary than the votes from one remote community is news that Barack Obama was ahead in every one of eight latest polls in New Hampshire released in the past 24 hours.

Some pundits are already reporting on rumours that Hillary is preparing to quit the race for the White House.

Hillary doesn't need to win tonight in New Hampshire. She is still front-runner in some of the bigger states and if she can survive New Hampshire by coming a credible second to Obama, she'll still be in with a shout of winning the nomination.

Don't forget, Hillary is married to the Comeback Kid!

UPDATE: I've deleted reference to caucusing in New Hampshire which I made in error. Unlike Iowa which has a caucus, New Hampshire in fact has a primary where individuals from each party vote for their favoured candidate rather than caucus. Some states caucus. Some vote. Very complicated. Very American (and I'm not even sure most Americans pretend to understand the system). Best not ask!

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