A Couple of PointsSome Romney fans are claiming that McCain won by appealing to independents and that's the only reason why he won New Hampshire. I haven't seen the polling data, but it doesn't matter. Many folks who would register Republican if there were closed primaries register Independent so they can vote in either primary. And anyway, does Mitt really want us to believe that he can't draw independents?
And although the talk show hosts were selling that the independents swung to the Republican side, that's not borne out in the numbers. The Democrats got almost 280,000 votes on their side; the Republicans pulled 230,000. This in a state where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats; it's pretty obvious the Democrats got a lot of independents voting in their primary.
A lot of people with influence like Fred Thompson and Duncan Hunter. I like them too. But Thompson got 1/6 the number of votes that Ron Paul did, and Hunter got less than half the number Thompson got. They are wonderful men who have served their country well, and far more deserving than the buffoon Paul, but not remotely competitive in this election.
