I would be remiss if I didn't ask: What role did race play in the race? Can we discount that? Did pollsters lie as I suggested in the Countdown Caucus For Dummies article completed at midnight on New Year’s Eve:

Do polls lie or people? The latest polls as of New Year’s Eve put all the Democratic candidates in a dead heat. I thought it was a dead heat the week before when Barack was leading the Iowa polls, the New Hampshire polls and the South Carolina polls, but suddenly the numbers were the same. It was anybody’s call: But it was, after all, the people of Iowa caucus: In a poll held the week of December 18-20. Barack and Edwards were in a tie at 22% for the lead.

So there was confusion before, during and after Iowa. Who was wrong? I won’t admit to being wrong because I did what every good political observer does — consult the poll-oracles. There were many to choose from. I read those now-indispensible oracles daily, weekly, monthly, once, twice, backwards, forwards, sideways, ten percent up and ten percent down. And still they read “Obama.” And if they kept true to form and the way the polls were conducted in Iowa, then Obama would not only win but would win by a margin greater than the pollsters polling indicated: 44% to 38% or so (I predicted) with Obama on top and Clinton running a close second, and Edwards somewhere in third place. It gets more prescient because in my Boston Breaks for Barack: I may have been forecasting below that Clinton would win NH despite the polls (that week) had Hill slipping in New Hampshire:

Time has tipped its hand in terms of a future endorsement. We won't cry over its choice. It will probably be Hillary Clinton. And it may not come until after New Hampshire. They are mainstream and conservative enough to bide their time on this one until the front runner has cleared more snow from its path.

So, what's the good news?

Barack did win the independent voter, as hoped for, lots of women voted for him, especially college kids (the A students), the over-35 crowd and the 'over 30,000 a year salary' crowd, men, of course the few black folks in New Hampshire, and the liberal voting block. He did not, however, win big with regular registered Democrats, whom I have dubbed The Clintonistas. And he did not win the majority female vote there, but did win new votes, new hearts.