Hillary wins after all the polls predicted a loss, and I foolishly pondered whether it was time for a postmortem. (Such are the hazards of daily blogging.)
Once again pundits will try to figure out how and why she won after losing in Iowa. (This is only the second time since 1976 that both parties had different winners in Iowa and New Hampshire.)
What happened between Iowa and New Hampshire? Did Obama's momentum evaporate?
I think the answer may be complicated, with a number of factors contributing to people changing their minds and deciding in the end to vote for the candidate everyone was ready to bury.
But I actually think the answer is just that the women of New Hampshire made a statement and that statement was simply this:
This is the first woman who really has a chance to win the presidency, and you are not going to bury her yet. All you media types may dislike her, and all you right wingers may want her destroyed, but we refuse to cooperate with that. She is one of us, and if you think you can dismiss her that easily, you are sadly mistaken.
Never discount the power of determined women. Rosa Parks, Sojourner Truth, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Margaret Sanger, Betty Friedan, and Gloria Steinem have all provided a powerful impetus to other women to stand up and fight. And today in New Hampshire, the women fought.
A strong and talented woman has a real chance to be the next president of the United States, and the uppity women of New Hampshire are not ready to listen to male pundits and politicians who want to stop her.
It's too bad, isn't it, that we have to choose between the first serious African American candidate and the first serious female candidate.
I have no idea now how this race will play out, but I am really going to enjoy watching it. Whoever ultimately wins, we Democrats who vote in this primary season will be making history, and that is exciting.
