So John McCain won New Hampshire. Again. While meaning little more than the whole, nonsensical Michael Bloomberg business is now dead in the water, if for no other reason than all the Washington insider types have their McCain back, it also portends exactly the opposite of a close race on the Democratic side. The Republican establishment put their eggs in the fragile basket of Mitt Romney. Voters do not seem to prefer any of the candidates, but the establishment is terrified of Mike Huckabee and detests John McCain and no one thinks Rudy Giuliani is sane enough to be President.
On the Democratic side we have a real race with two major and a close third, all close enough on the issues to be indistinguishable, with competing styles determining, for the most part, who will be that party's nominee.
On the Republican side, we have a field of candidates that, with the exception of Ron Paul, excite little more than frustration among primary voters. I still think it is possible the Republican convention could actually be brokered. I also think that none of the candidates has a snowball's chance of victory. The Republican primaries, then, are a wonderful example of an exercise in futility.
