Happy Birthday to Me, or my blog anyway. Yesterday was the one year anniversary of its creation. It's been fun for me to go back & reread some of those early posts.
And it ain't over yet: the NH Recount is underway. This should be interesting...expensive, but interesting. Follow along with Blue Hampshire for day by day, ward by ward updates.
That amateur analysis I keep eluding to isn't really gelling in my head. I don't think Hillary won because of the last minute display of emotion (whether or not you believe it was sincere), and I don't think Obama lost because of racism. I believe the Clinton team was in a panic on the afternoon of the primary, and they pulled out every last known voter among their base because they had the resources to do it. They held on to the working class/establishment strong holds, the less-educated voters, and the "older" voters, all underestimated but very loyal voters.
Here's what I wrote to a friend on the morning after, embellished slightly for clarification: The Clinton/Shaheen Machine in New Hampshire just really brings me down. Maybe this is too much analysis, but what bums me about the machine is that they are the blue collar/establishment Dems--the older/elderly, the non-college educated, working class children of immigrants--The Memeres & Peperes of Manchester, Rochester, and Berlin. I should feel glad that the less educated, less well-off people like my parents have clout and feel empowered in our state. But of course, I don't. I feel like they are scared of loosing what symbolic power they have, so they aren't willing to take a risk on a non-establishment candidate.
I know Clinton has wider support than what I described above, but it was this base that made the difference in NH.
Seems like it always does...
...Now check out an actual professional analysis.
