My Primary Thought About New Hampshire

It's certainly a sobering day for the borough's Obama and Edwards supporters, but The Optimist has a silver lining even for those downtrodden souls. First, as Edwards pointed out in his concession speech yesterday, less than 1% of the nation's electorate has voted so far, which means that ultimately New Hampshire could be just as insignificant (or important) as Iowa. Jusk ask former N.H. primary-winners Paul Tsongas, Gary Hart, and this past week's flashback favorite, Edmund Muskie.

My second point might be hard to swallow for some of you, but is just as important to internalize. New York hasn't elected one of its own as President since F.D.R. One needs only to read any of the scads of stories about local elected officials who have been trailing Hillary around the country as part of her arsenal to understand how much our state has staked upon the success of her campaign.

Unlike Bush, who seemed afraid to visit The Big Apple before 9/11, Bill Clinton hooked up New York throughout his two terms in office. His pro-NYC policies - not Giuliani's (as he likes to pretend) - were the overriding impetus for the unbridled prosperity our City experienced in the 90s. There is no reason to think that Hillary won't reinvigorate this largesse.

As our Senator, Hillary has brought home the bacon for New York. If she becomes our President, New York will be first in line to feast.