GAME CHANGER! JOHN MCCAIN PULLS OF SHOCKING SURPRISE WIN IN NEW HAMPSHIRE!
The state of New Hampshire, which went for McCain during his bid for the Republican nomination in 2000, has once again gone for Mr. Straight-Talk as he continues his fight for the Democratic nomination in 2004. McCain’s win came as a shock to many despite the fact that he had been doing well in the polls. The general consensus amongst the talking heads at the time was that New Hampshire would vote for a fellow New Englander, which meant that John Kerry should have taken the state. This appears to have not been the case at all.
McCain’s win was decisive, coming in a full five points ahead of his closest competitor, Senator John Kerry of neighboring Massachusetts. In his concession speech for the night, Senator Kerry downplayed his loss to McCain, claiming that his strong second place finish meant that he had momentum on his side, and that he’d win the remaining primary contests.
In third place came Senator John Edwards, who finished close to Kerry, losing second place by only two points. Edwards said that the contest was far from over, and vowed to continue on into the primary season.
For former frontrunner Howard Dean, his fourth place finish was damning. He had hoped that New Hampshire would be the place where he could pick himself back up after a crushing defeat by Kerry in Iowa, but this did not seem to be the case. With two losses in a row, and a low turnout of Dean voters in both major primary states, things looked bleak. Now, Dean looks to future states to revive his suddenly long-shot campaign.
After depressingly low results in New Hampshire, where they both polled less than five percent, Al Sharpton and Joe Lieberman announced the end of their presidential campaigns. Both said that if they had just a few more votes, they would have continued.
Wesley Clarke finished in fifth place behind Howard Dean. While Clarke was not discouraged by his showing, things did not look good for him as he trudged along out of the second state in the primary season.
One thing that can be taken away from this is that the race for the Democratic nomination, which had just days before been seen as wrapped up for Senator Kerry, has found new life and is by no means over yet. The campaigns head for the trenches in what could possibly be a long and heavily contested primary match.