Wow. These primaries in the US right now are like a roller-coaster. Last night's win for Hillary Clinton put the Dems back on what many assume (happily or not) to be a pre-destined path. But McCain's win came from out of the blue. Hillary's teary moment the other night might have helped her. But really it was the women, specifically the my-age women, showing up in force in NH that put Hillary back on top. Also, the same people who were offended by what seemed to be the "coronation" of Hillary might have been just as offended by the media's subsequent "coronation" of Obama. The same goes for Giuliani on the GOP side -- voters apparently aren't impressed by the 24/7 Giuliani campaign commercial that Fox News has been running.
McCain -- a sigh of relief from me that he's even still in the running, because out of the entire GOP circus of fools, he's probably the least toxic. If only because he's not, you know, insane. His past characterization of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson as "agents of intolerance" scored a point with me, as well as his opposition to torture. ("Opposition to torture" -- I can't believe I even have to write that.) That said, McCain's done his fair share of pandering to stay in the race, but somehow he just seems less blatantly offensive than Giuliani, Huckabee and the torpid Thompson (who's just cut his staff's salaries, not a good sign, but McCain did the same last summer).
The most significant development in all of this seems to be the volatile mood of the voters... the old tricks aren't working anymore. After 8 years of being led by the nose by the Bush administration and its media cohorts with disastrous results, the electorate is recalcitrant and snarly, and emphatically showing its independence. Regardless of who you favour in this horse race, that has to be a good thing.
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