Well, yesterday was certainly a dramatic night in New Hampshire, but with 294 of 301 precincts reporting, it appears we finally have a result. Drumroll please:
Ed Cowan 934 (1.59%)
Vermin Supreme 823 (1.40%)
Ed Cowan of Waterbury, Vermont gets his ticket to ride! On to South Carolina!
Meanwhile, the all-important battle for third place remains too close to call:
Randall Terry 444 (0.75%)
John Haywood 424 (0.72%)
Cornelius O’Connor 420 (0.71%)
Craig “Tax Freeze” Freis 397 (0.67%)
Who will get the momentum? Who will get a third-place bounce? OH THE SUSPENSE! Hold me, Wolf Blitzer!
I’m referring, of course, to “third place” in the battle to be the Democratic runner-up to President Obama in the New Hamsphire Democratic Presidential Primary — a battle won by the seemingly earnest Mr. Cowan, despite a late, Drudge-fueled charge by the inimitable and hilarious Mr. Supreme (who I met in L.A. at the DNC protests when I was in college; somewhere I still have “Vermin Supreme 2000” bumpersticker).
President Obama, for his part, presently has 48,115 of the 58,923 ballots cast, or 81.7%. That’s slightly better than George W. Bush did as an incumbent in the 2004 New Hampshire GOP primary; he got 79.6%.
Incidentally, if it seems like these numbers don’t add up, that’s because another 5,889 votes, or 9.99%, went to assorted write-ins, likely including such esteemed candidates as — I’m just guessing here — Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Hillary Clinton, and Tim Tebow.
By the way, I was just kidding about “on to South Carolina.” Obama’s the only candidate on the ballot there.
P.S. Oh yeah, the Republicans had a primary in New Hampshire last night too. Instead of #HUNTSMENTUM, it was #HUNTSMAGEDDON, though Huntsman doesn’t seem to recognize that yet. Oh, well. At least his daughters are pretty.
Meanwhile, I, for one, welcome our new Flip-Flopping Robo-Mormon Overlord. #RomneyHaters4Romney unite!