ME and Ophelia

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THE FIVE-HORSE RACE MOVES ON TO SUPER 7 PRIMARIES
Governor Dean comes away a solid second in New Hampshire

In his newly opened comments section at Instapundit, Glenn Reynolds writes: "People want to know what I think. I pretty much agree with Atrios, actually, at least on how hard this stuff is to predict -- at this point in 1992 I thought Clinton was toast. That shows what my predictive ability is like."

(He was referring to a comment posted by Atrios, quote: "I think people who are writing Dean's obituary yet again are dead wrong. . . . How long before Clinton won his first primary in 1992? Who was the presumed nominee at this point? A certain Senator from Mass. if I remember correctly.")

BBC News' online report: "Senator John Kerry has won the first state primary in New Hampshire, boosting his chances of becoming the Democrat candidate to stand against George W Bush in November's presidential election. The win is likely to give him vital momentum for the primaries that now lie ahead. Senator Kerry has emerged as the frontrunner following his surprise win in the Iowa caucuses last week, but nevertheless the race is still wide open."

Primaries schedule:

27 January: New Hampshire primary
3 February: "Super Seven". Primaries and caucuses in Arizona, Delaware, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina, New Mexico and North Dakota. Virginia Republican caucuses
7 February: Democratic caucuses in Washington and Michigan.

What is a primary?
--State-level poll to nominate a party's candidate in the general election
--Held for presidential and congressional races
--In some states voters are restricted to choosing candidates from the party for which they have registered support
--29 states permit "open primaries" in which a voter may back a candidate regardless of party affiliation.
--Primaries first emerged in early 20th Century to weaken the influence of party bosses.
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HAVE YOUR SAY AT BBC ONLINE
New Hampshire: Your reaction

Check out the comments posted to BBC news online, in response to their questions: "What is your reaction to the New Hampshire result? How do you see the race for the Democrat nomination going?" You too can have your say by sending them your comments.