Well, this is a pretty kettle of fish! Neither of the people who won the IA caucuses won the NH primaries. HRClinton won the Democratic primary and John McCain won the GOP primary. Excellent!
This means the primary race continues to be interesting. At least two people have a claim to front-runner status for the nomination in each party. Realistically, the number who could possibly win is probably larger than two and maybe as large as four in the GOP and Democrat Edwards still has a shot, albeit a long shot.
Interestingly, the most qualified Democratic candidates have all been washed out. Dodd and Biden left after IA and I understand Richardson will drop out today or tomorrow. We are left with three very junior Senators: Clinton and Obama still serving and Edwards a former Senator.
Republican candidates are somewhat more seasoned. McCain has lots of Senate (and POW) experience. Huckabee did several terms as AR governor, Romney did one term as MA governor but has interesting industry experience, of which it is always difficult to judge the relevance. Giuliani was a successful (or not) mayor of a tough city and federal prosecutor.
The thing to remember is that successful presidential candidates are most often former governors, not former senators. Lots of unsuccessful presidential candidates have been senators, think Kerry, Dole, etc. The race remains interesting from several perspectives.
