Sports fans know. The oddsmakers may have one team favored by 20 points over another. But, when the underdog manages to pull out a win, they say, "This is why they play the game."
Well, tonight we found out why they count the votes. Because the polls aren't always right. Hillary scored an "upset" win over Barack in New Hampshire. And, McCain came from behind to beat Romney. Interesting, especially since I've been hearing since Sunday that Hillary had pretty much no chance in NH and, if she lost there, she pretty much might as well quit the race on the spot because there would be no stopping Obama.
Because I was at work, I didn't get to see any of Hillary's speech after her victory. (Odd, I know, being that I work at a TV station and the speech was being carried live on the LIVE CHANNEL. But, I was doing other things at the time). Anyway, on a website, I watched a little clip of Hillary thanking the voters of New Hampshire. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Substitute the words "You like me, you really like me," and it's like Sally Field all over again. That's just what it reminded me of.
So, the question now is, what does Hillary do next? An article on the wire mentioned two differing schools of thought - campaign hard in South Carolina and Nevada. Or, pretty much blow off those states in favor of California, NY, and the bigger states that have primaries on Super Duper Tuesday. Personally, I can't see how, after tonight, she can afford to bypass SC and NV. Now that she has some momentum, she has to try to keep it, I think.
Edwards finished third and is promising to carry on. But, it's Clinton vs. Obama now. And, who knows? Maybe Pennsylvania's April primary will be relevant after all.
On the GOP side, it's looking more and more like McCain vs. Huckabee. Conventional wisdom has Romney down for the count since he couldn't win in a state that's right next to his own backyard. The question is, how much more of his own money is he willing to spend to stay in the game.