As has been previously reported, in Iowa Obama made "pacts" with Richardson and Kucinich to siphon supports at the caucuses, and offered the same deal to Biden, which was refused. In addition, is campaign brought in out of state supports and distributed 50,000 fliers to students who are out of state residents to instruct them to caucus for Obama, as Bill Clinton mentioned in a stump speech for his wife.
There are new unconfirmed reports coming out of Iowa that in some precincts in which the precinct captain was an Obama supporter, the number of participants in the caucus was artificially increased so that caucus groups for lower tier candidates, (Biden, Dodd, Kucinich, and Richardson), would be declared non-viable, and supporters would have to disburse, forced to leave or support another candidate, thus making it likely for Obama to pick up additional supporters and increase his lead.
Unlike in Iowa, where there are no checks and balances and zero oversight into the process, the New Hampshire primary is designed like much like the presidential elections that most Americans are used to: One person, one vote, by secret ballot. It's impossible to cheat at all.
What's Next for Obama
Following New Hampshire, there are 49 more contests to go (yes, Washington DC counts) for Democrats. Obama will certainly win some and lose some, but he has learned that there is no such thing as the "politics of inevitability." Voters do make up their own minds, despite a media that is increasingly driving the debate away from the candidates and the issues.
It's telling that in Obama's concession speech, he used a teleprompter, something unusual for him to do. Clearly he had only memorized the victory speech and was surprised by the outcome. In this race, there will be a lot more surprises to come, because 'we the people' will decide the outcome, and no one else.
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