Fred Pulls Out!

This just in... Thompson drops out of GOP presidential race.

Michigan Results Already!

That was quick!

	Mitt Romney	39%	John McCain	30%	Mike Huckabee	16%
	Ron Paul	6%	Fred Thompson	4%	Rudy Giuliani	3%

A few thoughts:
1. Rudy had really better do well in Florida.
2. Stick a fork in Fred. He's done.
3. For that matter, time for Ron Paul to go indy.
4. I'm pleased to see Huckabee have such a poor showing. I hope it is directly attributable to his incredible admission at a campaign appearance yesterday.

Onward!

Well, New Hampshire was a wild ride last night. The good news is that whoever the Democratic nominee is, I'll be happy, because it's a good field. The Democrats are all smart people and any of them would blow the idiots in the current administration out of the water. My favorites are Edwards and Obama, but I have to admit, it will be fun to watch the right-wingers go nuts if Hillary ends up as our candidate.

Further, I think it's good to see the race go beyond these early states, so that the rest of the country has a chance to weigh in on this important decision (and encourage the candidates to continue to hash out the issues). However, while I suspect Obama, Edwards and Clinton are all in it for the long haul, I'm afraid a few Republicans won't be able to keep their campaigns going without some significant early victories -- Mitt can always write himself a check, but I think he's in a unique position. Huckabee, Thompson and Giuliani will be in trouble soon if they don't pick up a few early gold medals (to use Romney's parlance) -- and the pressure is on Rudy in particular after he sat out Iowa and New Hampshire, opting instead to put a lot of eggs in the Florida basket.

While we're waiting for the next round, here's the latest candidate/issues quiz to snake its way around the Internets (I took the candidates who are no longer in the race out of my results):

83% Barack Obama 82% John Edwards 80% Hillary Clinton 73% Bill Richardson 35% Rudy Giuliani	26% Ron Paul 20% John McCain 14% Mike Huckabee 13% Mitt Romney   5% Fred Thompson
2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

New Hampshire Results

Because I know you guys love these things, here's a look back at previous New Hampshire primary results -- with tonight's rankings appended as well! In short, I think there were some big winners (Clinton and McCain), but no big losers (some early response from the left).

UPDATE: Amen to this!

NH Debates Are On Now

I don't know what all the dorks are doing tonight, but the cool people are watching TV!   ;-D   These are great debates (I'm not blogging it, but here are Joe's takes on the Republican* and Democrat** segments). The candidates are getting to roll up their sleeves and have it out somewhat, which is really cool to watch after so many stilted forums where candidates are not allowed to interact with each other. The Republicans are just finishing up, but you still have time to catch the Democrats, who will follow. They're on ABC, which in Chattanooga, is channel 10.

UPDATE: let's go to the videos! WMUR; C&L: Rep ~ Dem; WaPo
Transcripts: Republicans ~ Democrats

Here are a few thoughts just as the debates end... These were definitely the best debates of the campaign so far. In general, I think the Democrats were quite a bit more cordial then the Republicans, while still hashing out some important issues. Hillary probably didn't take it home like she needed to, while Obama was relaxed and presidential. Edwards also had a great night, while Richardson was quick and landed a number of laugh lines. All four of these candidates are impressive, but I think Obama and Edwards came out on top. On the Republican side, things are much more muddled. They were a lot more negative and argumentative, and I don't think Romney coped very well. At the same time, Huckabee didn't dazzle me, so I think maybe it was McCain's night. Giuliani and Thompson just didn't connect at all, and I thought Thompson was kind of ugly to Ron Paul at one point -- practically rolling his eyes at some of Paul's ideas.

(btw, it occurred to me as I was tuning into ABC as the debates were about to begin that this is the first time I've watched something on this network since back before the '06 election, when they aired that ridiculous propaganda film. I guess I know how to make a fit of pique last, huh?) ;-)

*Joe's best line of the night: "These Republicans keep talking about securing the borders. George Bush has been president for almost eight years. How come Bush and his GOP controlled Congress never secured the border?" DOOP!

**Joe's best line of the night: "Gotta say, this terrorism question should be T-ball for these guys. You know why we didn't get OBL? Bush and Iraq." DOOP!

Results (with many updates)

Iowa Democrats: Barack Obama (38%), John Edwards (30%), Hillary Clinton (29%), Bill Richardson (2%), Joe Biden (1%), Chris Dodd (0%), Mike Gravel (0%), Dennis Kucinich (0%)

Iowa Republicans: Mike Huckabee (34%), Mitt Romney (25%), Fred Thompson (13%), John McCain (13%), Ron Paul (10%), Rudy Giuliani (3%), Duncan Hunter (0%)


MSNBC Results

Chris Dodd has already indicated that he will be dropping out of the race.

Turnout was great, with the projections estimating 220,588 Democrats (compare that to 124,000 four years ago) and 114,000 Republicans caucused. Those are remarkable numbers for a red state!

Obama is speaking now and doing a great job. Emmie commented that "he looks presidential." His voice sounds a little shaky, but his message is full of energy and change (hitting a lot of the populist tones that Edwards has been ringing). If he's trying to roll some momentum into New Hampshire, he's doing a great job. Wow.

Joe Biden is also out.

From Ezra Klein:

Barack Obama won tonight, but, in a sense, John Edwards' campaign also triumphed. The progressivism of the race, the focus on ideas, the courage of the Democrats -- all were products of his early example. He began the campaign by talking about poverty, announced his candidacy in the mud of New Orleans, set the agenda with the first universal health care bill, and closed Iowa speaking of the uninsured. This is Barack Obama's victory, and it's richly deserved. But Edwards, running as a full-throated populist, set the agenda and finished second, ahead of the Clinton juggernaut. He said his role was to speak for the voiceless. He now barrels towards New Hampshire with ever more volume. And while his shot at the nomination is long at best, his candidacy, even if it fails, will have been far more successful than most.

Right-to-Lifers not as Anti-Abortion as they could be

The National Right to Life Committee made an odd choice in their endorsement for president in the '08 race.

[...] Mr. Thompson does not favor a constitutional amendment banning abortion, the stated position of the Republican Party's platform and one that is at the heart of National Right to Life's agenda. Mr. Thompson wants states to set their own abortion laws.

Mike Huckabee is the candidate who has taken the most hard line stance against abortion -- this is a guy who called abortion the "American holocaust" -- so I imagine there are many people with the Huckabee campaign who are scratching their heads this morning.

UPDATE: I'm not the only one around here who thinks this is weird.

The headline makes it sound worse than it is...

Fred Thompson announced today that he has cancer. He's been living with it for a while though, and doesn't expect it to affect his life expectancy. Hopefully Elizabeth Edwards and Tony Snow will do so well.

Uncomfortable Republicans

It must be tough to be a hard-core Republican these days. They've been forced into some very uncomfortable contortions as they try to justify a pardon for Libby when their ferocious attempt to take down a president is still a very recent memory. And, of course, their field for 2008 isn't looking all that hot at the moment, and what they've got waiting in the wings is even worse.

How hard can it be for the GOP to find a legitimate, serious presidential contender who's not an adulturer, let alone one who's a one-woman man (be honest -- is Mitt really a serious candidate?)? Even their supposed savior, Fred Dalton Thompson, has a divorce under his belt, along with the clichéd much, much younger second wife.

Family values, we hardly knew ye!