I’ll leave it to other pundits to write reams about the NH primary vote. Let’s just say that NH is a small and quirky state that almost always gives results that are interesting. Often they’re even relevant to what happens later; sometimes not (see this for a list of which NH winners have gone on to win their party’s nominations; not a bad track record for a small and rather atypical state).
But articles such as this one annoy the fact-checker in me, so I thought I’d correct the record. CBSNews.com Editorial Director Dick Meyer writes:
Senator Clinton repeated the epic comeback that sent her husband on his way to the White House in 1992. It was a squeaker, but it was a win.
Perhaps it’s just the syntax, but the impression this gives is that Bill won NH in 1992. Yes, he called himself “the comeback kid” after the 1992 NH primary. But no, he did not win it, as Hillary did; he came in second. NH kept his seemingly moribund candidacy alive, and allowed him to go on to win the nomination, but Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts actually won the 1992 NH Democratic primary handily, 33.2% to 24.8%.
This matters to me not only because I like accuracy, but because I was a real fan; I considered him to be one of the few politicians I could get excited about, a man who seemed intelligent, sincere, realistic, honest, and reasonable—especially so for a politician. Although he was a Massachusetts Democrat, he was far from a flaming liberal, and in the small and intimate venue of New Hampshire he shone. Unfortunately, his strengths didn’t come across so well in larger states, since he lacked the slick and easy affability of his rival, and his campaign died after New Hampshire.
As it turns out, so did he—in 1997, of complications from cancer treatment. There was to be no comeback for Paul Tsongas. Here’s a tribute to him that gives you an idea of the measure of the man.
