Barack Obama (left) and John McCain
The first results from New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary are already in. To be the first of the first, two tiny hamlets called Dixville Notch and Hart’s Location allowed voters to cast ballots just after midnight today. With 23 votes for each party, Sen. Barack Obama claimed the lead among Democrats at a whopping 16 votes, while Sen. Hillary Clinton and former Sen. John Edwards were tied at 3 votes each.
On the Republican side, John McCain led the way with 10 votes. The real surprise, if there’s one in these trumped-up results, is that former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was second with 5 votes and Rep. Ron Paul had 4 votes. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was fourth with only three votes.
Huckabee should fare poorly today elsewhere in New Hampshire as evangelical candidates never have been popular with this state’s voters. (See these recent polls.) But I won’t be surprised if Paul does pretty well, as there’s a large pool of libertarian voters in New Hampshire and independents can walk up to polls and pick either party’s ballot.
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