You never know. In this race, front runners always seem to drop behind at the last moment. Hillary wins New Hampshire, albeit by a slim margin–2% at this time, with 81% of districts reporting. This is great for Hillary, who was on the verge of losing big, and not-so-great news for Obama, who will have to come back strong–again. In a very real way, it’s all about expectations. Two weeks ago, Obama getting 37% to Hillary’s 39% would have been a huge win for Obama. Today, with pre-primary polls (three times fast!) averaging about 5-6% for Obama, it comes as a defeat. In neutral terms, it’s almost a tie for the votes of the state, a close race.

But this is all about expectations and momentum, which have now returned to Hillary’s camp. Which makes her the front runner again, and so far in this race, that doesn’t mean very much. Whatever the New Hampshire result means, Obama’s Iowa bounce has made him a serious contender. Neither candidate is out of it now.

One question a lot of people will ask: how much did Hillary’s “emotional moment” have to do with this? If not that, then what was it? Or were the 50% of polls that put Obama ahead simply wrong, and the other half which had Clinton and Obama neck-and-neck simply the right ones?

It will be interesting to see details on New Hampshire turnout and how youth, independents, and even Republicans voted in the Democratic primary.

One good thing: it keeps the media’s eyes even more closely focused on the Democratic race; had Obama blown Hillary out of the water too quickly, the media would have paid more attention to the Republicans, giving them more air time, more exposure, which only would have helped their cause.