Anti-Inevitability?

I was really surprised that Hillary Clinton won the New Hampshire primary. Seems that voters may have an anti-inevitability thing going on. When Hillary seemed a sure thing - Obama surged. When in the past few days (which may go down in history as temporary "Obamamania") when Barack looked to be rolling toward the nomination, Clinton got a surge of her own. Maybe Democratic voters want to keep the candidates from getting too comfortable in their front runner status?? Fairly or unfairly, Obama was seen to be acting like he had NH in the bag, I think that hurt him with voters who waited to decide until the last minute. Also, I think that jealousy between Iowa and NH was a factor in some voters not choosing Obama. NH wants to be different than Iowa. This could have been their way of showing it. At any rate - we do have a race here folks and it could be one of the most interesting in years.

Same on the Republican side. McCain won NH as expected and now seems to be the GOP front runner. Romney, by placing second again, must win Michigan to remain viable. (So much for the so-called focus group the other night) Mike Huckabee got 11% - about what expected and a very respectable third place. He's still in a very strong position for the upcoming contests and should be considered a co-front runner with McCain. Giuliani barely beat Ron Paul and seems to be placing all his hope on Florida. Personally, I think he is through - but we'll see. Fred Thompson got only 1% - disappointing even by the low expectations he went into NH. Unless he gets a victory before Super Tuesday (2/5) he will be forced to exit the race he so reluctantly entered in the first place.

Check out Reaching Across The Aisle, where my blog buddy Big Daddy Jeff shares his thoughts. He also talks about the inevitability factor.