Geoffrey Long
Tip of the Quill: Archives
A very odd battlefield.

So, in a turn of events that probably has all the politicos scratching their heads, McCain defeated Romney and Clinton is currently besting Obama in the New Hampshire primary. Adding further complexity to the matter, Huckabee, who took first in the Republican race in Iowa, came in a somewhat distant third – McCain took 37% of the vote, Romney took 31% and Huckabee snared a lowly 12%, only three percentage points better than Giuliani and four better than Ron Paul. Fred Thompson? 1%. Ouch.

Things weren't much clearer on the Democratic side of the ticket – as of this writing, Clinton has 39%, Obama has 36%, but Edwards, who dang near tied these two in Iowa, is trailing with a weak 17%.

But you know what's really awesome? What's genuinely, truly heartening to young people, intelligent people and people fed up with the crap we've been getting from Washington for the past God-knows-how-many years? From the same New York Times article:

Reflecting the intense statewide interest in the contest in both parties, turnout approached record levels and New Hampshire’s independent voters most likely were the ones who decided both parties’ races. Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain won the votes of independents by large margins over their closest competitors, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Romney, according to exit polls.

Roughly four in 10 voters who participated in each primary identified themselves as independents.

Rock the vote indeed! I tell you what, this is going to be a primary to watch.

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