After the excitement of Iowa last week, the Presidential candidates swooped down onto New Hampshire, campaigning so tirelessly they were probably renting their hotel rooms by the hour or not at all in the case of John 'All Night' Edwards. As the champion of the working man (i think i saw that on his business card) he likes to get a taste of what's known in more civilized parts of the world as unsocial hours. Often, paid time and a third elsewhere. He'll soon be getting his comp time because there's no indication that his night shifts are causing much of a stir in the polls. By the end of the week he'll surely have a keener understanding that hard work just doesn't pay off for the American middle classes anymore. Not like it used to.
Hillary. Well Hillary. That means talking about Barack Obama. A huge number of people I have spoken to felt elated by Barack Obama's victory speech after the Iowa Caucus. Politics aside - and this is not the place for us to get into that - really, is there an American amongst us who does not love the those 'new day' speeches. His words sang and soared and singed our American hearts. Singeing is good. And doubtless kids somewhere in the Eurovision region are adding drums and bass to it and filling dancefloors because Obama is the only rockstar candidate in the race. I mean, when was the last time you heard a "U-S-A, U-S-A" chant at a democratic rally? When he brought his wife and children onto the stage momentarily, that looked like America the Beautiful to me. Not many people have seen that in a while.
Hillary. Well. I guess Barack Obama won so handsomely, drawing a broad coalition of voters because he is saying what Americans want to hear. No Red States, No Blue States, All Purple States. That's one of the keys to winning elections most likely. Telling people what they want to hear.
It's not a Jacobean tragedy yet for the millionaire senator, ex-President's wife formerly known as the presumptive democratic nominee. Hillary hasn't lost everything yet. Hill now finds herself appealing to the point on the horizon where she believes the party faithful to be. "Where was Obama on Abortion pills..." I think I heard she'd aksed. Her frustration is palpable and it's understandable. Her electability is ever scrutinized. His, in her mind, never so. She may as well zing him about positive discrimination giving white and brown jobs to black people, flirtations with white girls in college, attending a muslim school for a while as a kid, his middle name thing, oh and maybe the drug dealer deal too and so on to help him get ready for the general election while she's about it. Hillary is a peculiar underdog this week. 50% ahead in the polls everywhere but NH, but not everyone loves a loser and she had it and she lost it. Following Hillary's tears before bedtime chat in a New Hampshire diner, one fears for a temporary Britney meltdown moment. I'm not looking forward to it.
Why is Bill Richardson still on the stage. The resume thing isn't resonating this year. He should do a Huckabee and come back in four years, if you know what I mean.
I was checking the Iowa coverage on Fox News and that seemed pretty semi-professional. They didn't appear to have a horse in the race. The leading Republican vote getter Hucks, actually came 4th overall in Iowa and he drew more ire than Obama. So if Obama sweeps forward as a centrist - isn't that basically the viewing public's repudiation of the sort of partisanship Fox News offers? And if Murdoch these days seems less about dogma than pragmatism, money and power, those Fox broadcasters are beginning to like last weeks first-teamers at QPR.
If it keeps up like this and there's no Hillary demon to slay, Murdoch will be offering the channel to Chris Matthews, the biggest Obama groupie of them all. Remember the deal he cut with Tony Blair?