NEW HAMPSHIRE SPEAKS

Mitt Romney was declared the winner of the New Hampshire primary as soon as the polls closed tonight.  As I'm writing this, there are less than 20 percent of the votes counted but Romney has 35.5 percent.  His next closest opponent, Ron Paul this time, has less than 25%.  Jon Huntsman, who staked his campaign on New Hampshire, is third with 17 percent.  Newt Gingrich is fourth right now but Rick Santorum is gaining and is breathing down the giant spider's neck.  But Rick Perry.  Rick Perry!  Will he go back to Texas this time and stay there?  He has less than 1 percent of the vote.  This photo reminds me of Perry's chances of winning the nomination.  Dead on the ground.

Perry is barely ahead of Buddy Roemer, a former Louisiana governor you may have heard about.  Or maybe not.

And Michele Bachman and Herman Cain . . both of whom have pulled out of the race . . . are still getting votes.

By the way, Mitt is giving his victory speech and spouting lies about Barack Obama.  He's on his way.  To defeat.  And back to the private sector to gain joy by firing more American workers.

DEATH

I have had two acquaintances die in the past week from suicides.  They lived far apart and did not know each other.  Phil Donahue is quoted as saying "suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem."  In the first incident, the problem . . one of health . . did not seem to be a temporary problem.  In the second I just don't know.  The reason seems unclear.  Friends of both of the individuals all said the same things: the victim was the last person in the world one would have thought of killing themself.

I think many, many people are like the classic description of a duck: serene on the surface but paddling like hell underneath.  Too many people seem to keep their troubles to themselves until they feel they just can't deal with them any more.  And so they take the final step.

It is not for we survivors to judge them.  We are left with trying to understand the victims and their motives.  It is a difficult and nearly insurmountable task.

WHO WOULD HAVE BELIEVED IT?

The Denver Broncos beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime this afternoon.  On their first play, Tim Tebow passed for a touchdown and the game was over.  I called my friend in Denver and said "I'm now a believer."  But . . . the Broncos will have to face the New England Patriots next Saturday.  Will it be Tebow Time once again?  As was proved today . . miracles can happen.

Very cool and windy today.  I spent my 6 minutes in the sunshine as I try to improve my facial color but otherwise it felt cold outside and I stayed inside.

60 Minutes tonight - stem cells for sale by a con man.  Terrible.  Twins going to war - equally horrible.  Truffles - how can any one pay that price, even if they're not fakes from China.

And so it goes.

SUMMERTIME - WINTERTIME - WHICH IS IT?

It is a beautiful day in Arizona on this January 7th.  I was just out back filling the bird bath, taking in a bit of the sun and truly enjoying the day.  But then it's a beautiful day nearly everywhere in the U.S. today.  So much so that the nightly news anchors are making the unusual January weather their lead story.  They just can't get over it and they can't stop talking about it.  "Is it global warming?", they seem to be asking, "or el Nino?"  Whatever it is everyone seems to be enjoying it.  60 degrees in Chicago . . enough for convertible cruising . . and even in Fargo and Bismarck and Minot in the normally frozen north of North Dakota . . my old home.  People are jogging in t-shirts and shorts in New York City.  Last year at this time traffic there wasn't moving as a huge snowstorm blanketed the city.

I had a comment from a blogger friend down in Oz (Australia) this week noting that it was summer down there and the citizens were preparing to roast through another hot summer.  Well, Meggie, maybe you should come up to this side of the equator where folks are enjoying a warm, balmy winter.

By the way, some of you may have tried to reach Oddball Observations last night only to be told the blog had been removed.  And for several hours it was.  I still have had no explanation but early in the evening, as I was trying to send an email to a friend, my Google account was suddenly suspended.  OO disappeared, as did my Gmail program.  I was forced to rely on a long dormant Yahoo account to send and receive mail.  It was pretty depressing when I turned out the lights but sometime early in the morning, Google responded to my pleas.  My pal Tom sent me an email at 1:30 in the morning saying he had just accessed Oddball again and allowed that apparently the overlords at Google had allowed me back on the grid.  So here I am, not as I feared forced to rebuild everything from scratch on some other platform.  Just the same as before, writing somewhat tepid blog posts.  Glad to be back.

Now, let's kick it up a notch.



OH THOSE ZANY MAYANS!

(Cartoon credit: Bizarro by Dan Piraro)

MY HEAD IS SPINNING

Tuesday night the Iowa Republican caucuses were held.  Michele Bachman visited all 99 counties so people could get to know her better.  Apparently they did.  She finished in a far distant sixth place but exhultantly told a small crowd of supporters that she was marching on all the way to the presidency.

Then she went to bed and perhaps had a chat with folks who said her campaign was broke and her hopes had been nullified.  The next day she pulled out with a speech in which she pronounced "poignant" just like it's spelled.

The Texas Tornado, Governor Rick Perry, after a lowly 5th place finish, said he was going home to Texas to "reassess my campaign".  That translates into: "write my concession speech."

But, out on a jog the next morning, he heard a voice from above (or perhaps a commercial on the radio of a passing car) that said "But wait!  There's more!"  Soon he announced that he was going on to make a fool of himself in two more debates in New Hampshire and continue his campaign in South Carolina.

Was it that last drink I had last night or is something else making me feel dizzy?

Stay tuned, gentle readers.  If you think it's been nuts so far, just wait until Newt gets wound up.  Oh.  He is?

SO LONG, IOWA

Finally.  Sure, it's only January 4th but it seems like forever.  The Iowa Republican caucuses are finally over.
 

The big winner (by 8 votes out of over 100,000 cast) was Mitt Romney.  Rick Santorum followed close behind.  Loopy Ron Paul finished in third.  Nasty Newt Gingrich slumped from first place in the polls two weeks ago to a distant fourth in the final vote.  Rick Perry, confused as ever, finished fifth and said he was going home to Texas to (lick his wounds) reassess his campaign.  Folks, that means he's dropping out.  And dead last was the miracle worker, Michelle Bachman.  Last night she was full of spunk, saying she was headed for South Carolina.  Then she canceled her flight and this morning, less than 12 hours later, she announced she'd had enough.

By the way, in the drawing above, I make the candidates to be, from left to right, Romney, Gingrich, Perry, Bachman, Paul and Santorum.  Your views may vary.

So it's on to New Hampshire.  The very angry Gingrich got out of Iowa on a chartered flight before midnight and arrived in the first primary state in the dark of night, scuttling off the plane like a venomous spider.

So, let's see.  What are we left with?  Five candidates.  Probably four after Perry's expected departure speech.  Plus Jon Huntsman, who's been lurking in New Hampshire, ready for the big show to descend.  And in Iowa?  Must be a feeling of disappointment to Republicans who saw their much vaunted caucuses end up in a virtual tie.  Kind of like a lot of (c'mon, you had to know this was coming) rotten corn.