Barack Obama Wins Dixville Notch, NH Over John McCain, 15 to 6

The election is underway!  Senator Barack Obama has won the first ballot race held at Dixville Notch, New Hampshire 15 votes to 6 votes for John McCain and no votes for Ralph Nader.   I watched MSNBC to see the results of this historic first vote of the 2008 election, announced at 9:11 PM PST.  

Sarah Palin Thinks New Hampshire's In The Northwest - Gets Booed

Wow, how many times now have we seen Alaska Governor and GOP VP Candidate Sarah Palin make a "geographic" mistake?  She did in in Iowa, where she mistook Cedar Rapids for another city for example.  And there are other times she's done it.  But this one's a hoot and I think the first time she actually got booed, reflecting her decending poll numbers.

I can't wait to see SNL.

See this..

New Hampshire and New Jersey follow Clinton's call

The New Hampshire chair stood up and said that they were following Clinton's call and casting all of their 30 votes for Obama.

New Jersey stood up next and unanimously cast all of their votes for Obama to huge, raucous cheers in the hall. Z's gonna vlog on this ... watch for it.

Tim Russert at NH Primary House Party January 2008

Tim Russert on the primary trail in NH, 2008, originally uploaded by headshotsphoto.

I found this photo on Flickr, with this explaination:

Tim Russert died on June 13, at the age of 58. He was photographed while covering a house party for presidential primary candidate, John Edwards, in Bedford NH on the eve of the NH primary in January 2008. Elizabeth Edwards speaks to Tim Russert. Also pictured are Matt Lauer, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon.

He really enjoyed getting out there it seems. Russert will be missed.

New Hampshire Primary Votes Miscounted According To Citizens for Legitimate Government

UPDATE Dennis Kucinich asks for recount of NH Primary votes Click here for more info and video

New News. New email I received asserts that the NH Primary Votes were miscounted! This news is all over the Internet. See below and see my video ..

News Updates from Citizens for Legitimate Government
09 Jan 2008

http://www.legitgov.org/

http://www.legitgov.org/index.html#breaking_news
Where Paper Prevailed, Different Results By Lori Price 09 Jan 2008

2008 New Hampshire Democratic Primary Results --Total Democratic Votes: 286,139 - Machine vs Hand (RonRox.com) 09 Jan 2008

Hillary Clinton, Diebold Accuvote optical scan: 39.618%
Clinton, Hand Counted Paper Ballots: 34.908%
Barack Obama, Diebold Accuvote optical scan: 36.309%
Obama, Hand Counted Paper Ballots: 38.617%
Machine vs Hand:
Clinton: 4.709% (13,475 votes)
Obama: -2.308% (-6,604 votes)

2008 New Hampshire Republican Primary Results --Total Republican Votes: 236,378 Machine vs Hand (RonRox.com) 09 Jan 2008

Mitt Romney, Diebold Accuvote optical scan: 33.075%
Romney, Hand Counted Paper Ballots: 25.483%
Ron Paul, Diebold Accuvote optical scan: 7.109%
Paul, Hand Counted Paper Ballots: 9.221%
Machine vs Hand :
Romney: 7.592% (17,946 votes)
Paul: -2.112% (-4,991 votes)

NH: "First in the nation" (with corporate controlled secret vote counting) By Nancy Tobi 07 Jan 2008 81% of New Hampshire ballots are counted in secret by a private corporation named Diebold Election Systems (now known as "Premier"). The elections run on these machines are programmed by one company, LHS Associates, based in Methuen, MA. We know nothing about the people programming these machines, and we know even less about LHS Associates. We know even less about the secret vote counting software used to tabulate 81% of our ballots. [ See also CLG's Coup 2004 and Yes, Gore DID win!.]

Please forward this update to anyone you think might be interested. Those who'd like to be added to the Newsletter list can sign up: http://www.legitgov.org/#subscribe_clg.

Please write to: signup@legitgov.org for inquiries.

CLG Newsletter editor: Lori Price, Manager. Copyright © 2008, Citizens For Legitimate Government ® All rights reserved. CLG Founder and Chair is Michael Rectenwald, Ph.D.

UPDATE: My video on this matter:

New Hampshire Voters Slam Clinton; Praise Obama After Debate

As this video shows, Senator Clinton's rather wild-eyed response to John Edwards' statements that she is not the candidate of change did not set well with New Hampshire Voters.



What matters is not what the Mainstream Media thinks, but New Hampshire voters. People are not electing a policy nerd, but a leader. Obama is that person. Clinton came off as desperate and the Obama staff knew they could win just be letting Hillary be herself.

A brilliant approach; she played right along with it.

Clinton Campaign Head Mark Penn Says He Will Use Same (Racist) Strategy Against Obama in NH

Some people never learn and Clinton Campaign head Mark Penn is one of them. Read this new account in the LA Times Blog. Either Penn's not playing with a full deck or is tone-deaf, but whatever the case, he does not understand the new America. He just does not get it. He thinks America will buy a strategy already considered racist in many corners and failed in Iowa. Read the text...

Clinton aides hint now things'll get nasty - LA Times Blog

While you were sleeping, the chartered jet of the third-place finisher in the Iowa Democratic caucus winged its way from Des Moines to Manchester, N.H. And it sounds like some decisions were made on that plane that may alter the course of that party's presidential race.

At her concession speech in Des Moines Thursday night Hillary Clinton was all gracious and determined and smiling. But hours later on that flight someone named Mark Penn, who happens to be her chief political strategist, ominously told a gaggle of reporters, including The Times' Peter Nicholas, that the campaign's focus needs to shift now onto, you might have guessed, someone named Barack Obama.

The Illinois senator happens to be the first-place finisher in those same caucuses and now Clinton, once the inevitable Democratic nominee, is playing catch-up. Things could get nasty with some pretty sharp media contrasts made in coming days, it would seem. "This has been very much a referendum on her,'' said Penn. "And people will take a harder look at the choice and the kind of president who will be needed in these times.''

Penn hinted that the Clinton campaign may be poised to mount a more aggressive campaign in New Hampshire than in Iowa. "Time and again in the Democratic primaries," he said,....

"you've seen people latch onto the new, seemingly fresh candidate only to then take a sobering look at the choice they have when it comes down to the end of it. I think you're going to see that again.''

He claimed that Obama's record is comparatively unexplored and he suggested the news media should ask itself about taking a closer look at Obama's history. "Does everyone know everything they need to know about Barack Obama?'' Penn asked. "That's a decision you're going to have to make. I think at this point his record is not very well known. And she is really well-known. She's fully vetted, fully tested. And I don't think that process has occurred with Barack Obama.''

For weeks now Clinton aides have been threatening on and off the record to use some bad stuff against their chief opponent. First, two of them told conservative columnist Robert Novak the Clintons had very damaging information on Obama, but they weren't going to use it. Then her New Hampshire co-chair, Billy Shaheen, said, not that any Democrat would use Obama's admitted youthful drug use against him, but boy, would the Republicans have a field day with that later this year.

Early this morning Penn told Nicholas he didn't believe Obama was positioned to win in New Hamsphire, which votes Tuesday. "The only thing Obama has going for him in New Hampshire," Penn added, "is some sense of momentum. Let's see whether or not that sustains itself ... when people really focus in on the choice of picking a president.''

Some adjustments need to be made in the Clinton strategy, Penn admitted. Clinton's strongest appeal in Iowa, he said, was with older voters. Now, she must reach across generational lines. "I think her appeal as we move forward can be broader than it was (in Iowa),'' Penn said. "And I think that will happen.''

The architect of the Clinton campaign claimed she is still positioned to win the nomination and he sought, as every political strategist would at a time like this, to play down the Iowa setback. "This is a bump in the road," he said. "No question about that. But we're in a very, very strong position to move forward and tackle the challenges that this presents.''

Kinda makes you remember that long internal memo that someone named Mike Henry wrote to Clinton last spring. At the time he was her deputy campaign manager. And he wrote: “My recommendation is to pull completely out of Iowa and spend the money and Senator Clinton’s time on other states. If she walks away from Iowa, she will devalue Iowa — our consistently weakest state.”

At the time the campaign disavowed that leaked document.

But that was last spring. And this is now.

Clinton NH Headquarters Terrorized By Troy Stanley - Hostages Taken, Three Released

In other updates, apparently Mr. Stanley went to a hardware store and got flares which he then used as fake explosive devices.

Hostages Released From Clinton Office

BEVERLEY WANG - AP | November 30, 2007 04:33 PM EST |

ROCHESTER, N.H. — A deranged man wearing what appeared to be a bomb strapped to his chest walked into a Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign office Friday, took several hostages and demanded to speak to the candidate during a nearly four-hour standoff, authorities said.

The man released the last of the hostages as the afternoon wore on, but he remained in the office and was not immediately taken into custody.

Clinton was in the Washington area at the time, and extra security precautions were taken to protect the former first lady, who still has a Secret Service detail, said a law-enforcement official, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the situation.

The man entered the simple storefront office along the town's main street around 1 p.m., ordered people onto the floor and then let a mother and her baby leave, said State Police Maj. Michael Hambrook.

About two hours later, a woman in a green sweater was led away from the building by a SWAT team member. Authorities, some carrying shields and guns, had the building surrounded, and laid wiring up to the building's entrance before the woman was released. It was unclear if the wiring helped authorities communicate with the suspect.

The office is one of many Clinton has around New Hampshire.

The suspect was an older man known around the town to be mentally unstable, the law enforcement official told the AP. He walked into the campaign office and opened his jacket, revealing what appeared to be a pipe bomb.

The law enforcement official said the man also demanded to speak with Clinton.

Witness Lettie Tzizik told television station WMUR of Manchester that she spoke to the woman who was released first and that she was crying, holding the infant.

"She said, 'You need to call 911. A man has just walked into the Clinton office, opened his coat and showed us a bomb strapped to his chest with duct tape," Tzizik said.

Clinton was scheduled to give an address at the Democratic National Committee meeting in Vienna, Va., Friday afternoon, but DNC Chairman Howard Dean announced from the podium that Clinton would not speak.

"We are in close contact with state and local authorities and are acting at their direction," Clinton said in a statement. "We will release additional details as appropriate."

Authorities sent a tactical bomb unit to assist local police, and the area was evacuated, Hambrook said. A nearby school was in lockdown.

The small Clinton office is located in the New England community's downtown area in a strip of several storefronts, and has large glass windows with a campaign sign out front. Police with guns drawn crouched behind cruisers across the street from the office.

Workers for Sen. Barack Obama's campaign office also evacuated, a campaign spokesman said. The office is four doors away from Clinton's. Staffers in John Edwards' office, a few buildings away, evacuated as well.

___

Associated Press writer Lara Jakes Jordan in Washington contributed to this report.

Barack Obama Holds Foreign Policy Town Hall Meeting In Iowa - Video

Senator and Presidential Candidate Barack Obama held a town hall meeting on foreign policy in New Hampshire this morning. This video is a highlight of what the Senator said before the close of the event



Panelists included:

Richard Danzig – Former secretary of the Navy under President Clinton
Tony Lake – National Security Advisor to President Clinton
Adm. John Hutson (USN Ret.) – Bow, NH resident; Dean of Franklin Pierce Law Center; former U.S. Navy Judge Advocate General and nationally-known expert on detention and interrogation
Samantha Power – Pulitzer Prize-winning author and renowned professor of human rights and foreign policy
Susan Rice – Former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
Senator Barack Obama

CNN.com - New Hampshire CNN Presidential Poll - 83 Percent Still Undecided!

CNN keeps putting out these polls, but they don't tell you on air how many people are undecided in the Democratic race. This is the question that was asked in New Hampshire:

34. (DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY VOTERS ONLY:) Have you definitely decided who you will vote for in the New Hampshire primary, are you leaning toward someone, or do have you considered some candidates but are still trying to decide?

( http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2007/images/09/25/relnh5a.pdf )

Well, here was the response for New Hampshire:

September 2007
Definitely decided 17%
Leaning toward someone 28%
Still trying to decide 55%

That's 83 percent of those polled who are still undecided! That's right. 83 percent. Let's put it this way, that means just 17 percent of the people CNN polled made up their mind.

Think that's bad, look at these results from earlier this year:

July 2007
Definitely decided 10%
Leaning toward someone 26%
Still trying to decide 64%

That means just 10 percent knew who they were voting for in July and the number has increased just seven percent. That means this is a wide open race.