The Primary

I have a friend who's in New Hampshire helping the Obama campaign. He drove up there from Brooklyn two days after the Iowa caucus. His words on the phone today were, "I can pretty much tell you that Hillary is going to get slaughtered." It seems likely that New Hampshire will have a record turnout, which is not surprising: The most clear aspect to the Obama momentum is that people want to vote for him. I'm not really old enough to remember a time when -- even for a few days, but hopefully longer -- there was a palpable sense that people weren't just choosing "the lesser of two/three/four/five evils" in a presidential race. It's too early to say this, but I will anyway, and I'll back it up with a longer analysis if and when Obama secures the nomination...Apathy is not just an organic phenomenon. It's often a response to the options presented.

While we wait to see the results tonight, please see Gloria Steinem spewing nonsense in the New York Times today. The headline of her op-ed ("Women Are Never Front-Runners") is patently false. Hillary was a substantial front-runner entering primary season. The reason she's not anymore is not due to her gender; it's due to her own weaknesses as a candidate and her opponent's strengths. I would parse her column at greater length -- there's literally a counterpoint to be made to every paragraph -- but I'm too busy.