Hillary slugs it out with Obama

Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama: Good times on the campaign trail? Maybe not. The NY Post has a great story. Click on the headline and go there.

Are McCain, Obama cutting the herd?

Should Obama win today in N.H., I think it means Hillary is on life support waiting for the plug to be pulled.

It seems like a straightforward situation in the Democratic Party. Since Obama stands for virtually everything Hillary does, I do not think it will be hard to get that support.

In Northern Monmouth, I have noted a lot of "Hillary hatred" even among Democrats. I don't really get it, but there seems to be an "anti-Hillary bloc" she'll need to overcome.

The Republican race is a lot more enigmatic where it involves New Hampshire. Locally, Romney supporters from Middletown have gone so far as to travel to New Hampshire to conduct GOTV for the ailing campaign. There is a lot of energy around Romney at the upper levels of the county GOP, but the grassroots still seems to belong to Giuliani.

Should Romney limp out of New Hampshire with a loss, the expectation is that he will do well in Michigan. But, it just sounds like Romney's strategy is getting thinner and thinner.

If McCain does win in New Hampshire, then he has another life, and Huckabee's mission will be to finish relatively high and begin to significantly pick up whatever support he hasn't received yet from the Religious Right.

Giuliani's strategy is strange: Lots of energy in Florida, not so much in either Iowa or New Hampshire. Does he mean to bypass Michigan too? Can he afford it?

And what about Bloomberg?

Interesting stuff. Click on the headline and go to the AP story.

OBAMA, HUCKABEE WIN IN IOWA!

Well, the wheels are in motion for Decision '08. According to the AP, Rev. Mike Huckabee has garnered an Iowa win for the GOP, while Sen. Barak Obama has won the Democratic vote for that state.

While GOP favorite Rudy Giuliani did not work all that hard in Iowa, and is making his fight in the road ahead, I can't help but believe this is a significant setback for the Romney campaign. Romney put forth a significant effort there.

Meanwhile, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton did seem to lose this one outright to Obama, though I am sure this is only the first round of several to come.

Questions: How is Rudy's campaign going to look in the wake of the Huckabee win? Is this a speed bump for Hillary or the beginning of a back-and-forth fight across the U.S.?

Click on the headline to go to the AP story.