Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Obama vs. Hillary in New Hampshire

Over the past weekend Barack Obama's support in New Hampshire surged ahead of Hillary Clinton by 9%, 39 to 30% respectively. They were neck and neck up to the the day of the Iowa results. With his historic win in Iowa, and the much lauded follow-up victory speech that night, it appears that trend to prefer Obama over Hillary has spread to New Hampshire.

Losing was a shock to the potential first woman President, but if she loses in tonight's primary, then she will have to really change strategy to become the "comeback kid". Yesterday, we saw Hillary showing some emotion, it may have marked a transition of strategy to show her human side. Her remarks gave the impression that she views the other candidates as ones who could send the country in a backwards direction.

While it is dramatic and exciting to witness the possible crowning of America's first black President, Obama has to be careful not to make any mistakes, missteps, and continue working on weaknesses in policies where he is now criticized. John Edwards proposes that his own health plan will include all Americans getting health coverage, while Obama's still leaves out 19 million. On Iraq, Obama has said he will have all the troops out of Iraq by next year. That is wonderful, but there are questions about the timing of it. Will Iraq be ready and will insurgents see this as a time to really take over?

Right now things are looking good for an Obama win in New Hampshire. It will be a further boost to his campaign, and make him the horse to catch even more so. The vote outcome will show whether voters had been merely fickle in the latest poll, or whether they are truly decided in his favor. There's much mistrust in government and politicians, but the race itself is interesting to watch.

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