No joy (yet) at Obama gathering

Manchester, N.H. -- The Times Maria La Ganga is at Barack Obama's election-night party, where we imagine those who showed up figured they've be whooping and hollering by now. Instead, La Ganga reports:

The atmosphere was edgy in the flag-draped gym of Nashua High School South. An hour after the polls closed, with just over a quarter of the votes counted, Hillary Clinton was ahead, and the crowd was restive.

“It’s very scary,” said Con O’Donnell, a software engineer from Wyndham, N.H. “It was a Hillary state until three weeks ago. There are a lot of Hillary people on the street ... when it’s over, if he wins, it’ll be a helluva party. It’s really tense.”

Supporters were watching the returns on a super-sized projection television, craning their necks as NBC interviewed a happy Ann Lewis, a senior Clinton advisor.

Not everyone was worried though. Dave Bamford, an attorney from Dover, declared happily that Obama “is going to win. My feeling here is I just think this is a seminal moment. The shot heard ‘round the world. I really believe this is the next president of the United States.”

It remains unclear, of course, whether Bamford's optimism was misplaced. It did seem clear that the blowout victory that he and others were hoping for was not going to occur.

-- Don Frederick

Comments

[Mayo]

A few tears and serving coffee in addition to a stressed former president labeling the current "O"nomenon a fairy tale and we have winner by 2%. A winner that couldn't be determined on the democratic front as quickly as the Republican one! If I were Hillary, I would be more worried, there’s really nothing to be excited about. I'm happy she played her aces early by crying, at least that's the most of emotion you can show... so what’s the next play?

We tend to be fickle minded people. All the media hype of her choking up, serving coffee and answering questions like she never did before erased the past weeks of question planting, refusing to answer questions and being in it to win. She has changed her campaign theme as much as the granite state folks change their minds apparently.

A good lesson learnt for the Obama camp, polls are not dependable! And visibility in all measures is crucial. Now its time to rebound, because we see through Hillary's decisiveness and it can’t be hidden in all states, even if it was to New Hampshire. The Hillary tears they say will play a significant role in this whole campaign... I laugh to that. It will be the same tears on the way home on Feb 5. And to Bill... Americans love Fairy tales, that's why you ended up in the White House and that’s why it will be Michelle decorating it in 09.

[BienAime]

Hillary Played the Race Card to Win New Hampshire

As I analyzed the results of the New Hampshire primary I noticed that everyone is giving Bill and Hillary Clinton a free pass on the tearful statement she made before the primary. These statements were made to attract and convert those voters who would vote for Obama but were 100% comfortable with him. I have been observing the Clinton campaign since the beginning and have been quietly telling the American voters not tot vote for a black man.

Ford in SC has to apologized for saying that white will not vote for black candidate for POTUS

We all know that the “inexperienced” adjective was assigned to Obama by the Clinton campaign. As we all know Obama has more elected office experience than Hillary Clinton and John Edwards but Edwards was never called inexperienced.

Billy Shaheen Clinton’s campaign manager in NH had to step down after associating Obama with drug dealing.

All of these obvious racial and condescending remarks seem like footnotes initially. When Hillary herself made these statements I had it with her. And I think it is about time that the Obama campaign starts addressing this problem. Let’s analyze these tearful statements: "I have had so many opportunities from this country; I just don't want us to fall back.” Her voice dropped to a whisper as she continued: "This is very personal for me... it is not just political... I see what's happening... we have to reverse it.

"Some people think elections are a game. It is about our country, it is about our kids' futures."

In there Hillary is implying that an Obama presidency will harm the country: "I have had so many opportunities from this country; I just don't want us to fall back.”. To put more emphasis and dramatize the meaning of her message, her voice dropped to a whisper as she continued: "This is very personal for me... it is not just political... I see what's happening... we have to reverse it”. This is a woman that has been described to be much disciplined always on message. The tearing was not about fatigue or campaign pressure that was her way to put more emphasis on her message, why I say that, we need to go back to Billy Shaheen statement in early December to find some clues in the strategy that will be used in NH to scare voters leaning toward Obama. "This is very personal for me... it is not just political... I see what's happening... we have to reverse it”, as a Former First Lady, we know that her words still carry a lot of weight with a lot of voters. When an undecided voter is wrestling with that final decision, he/she is more likely to hear those statements and tears. “I see what’s happening… we have to reverse it”: to mean that the country is being taken over by blacks. I could not see anything myself, except that there is an election and a black man is in the lead. I don’t know if any of you remember that over the summer there was some false accusation made about Obama canvassers not being polite and were undisciplined. So this how the Hillary Clinton Campaign has been playing the race card to quietly undermine Obama and yesterday we saw the result.