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Senator Obama tries to put a positive spin on his second-place finish in the New Hampshire primary, citing the large Democratic turnout and the emergence of a “new American majority.”

Sound Bite: “We are ready to take this country in a fundamentally new direction. That's what's happening in America right now. Change is what’s happening in America.”

It’s come to this: The Obama campaign has posted videos of New Hampshire voters standing in line waiting to get into their man’s rally.

A Line


Another Line

What do you do when you finish third in the first test of the campaign? You go after the new frontrunner.

Here, the Clinton camp tries to label Barack Obama as a flip-flopper by posting two videos -- one from 2003, the other from 2007 -- in which he states different positions on single payer healthcare. A little thin, plus the 2007 clip affirms what's appealing about Obama.


Obama 2003 -- Single payer yes:




Obama 2007 -- Single payer no:

It's just another Obama pep rally video -- we've seen plenty of them -- but what's weird to me is the moment halfway through when, acting as one, the crowd suddenly stops cheering and applauding and brings the signs down just as Obama lowers his tone into his serious, profound voice (nevermind that he's not saying anything profound). It's as if he has them trained in political Pavlovian response.

African-American religious leaders (please don’t call them the “religious left”) testify for Barack Obama at a gathering in Charleston, SC.

Sound Bite: [Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery] “There’s bad crazy and there’s good crazy . . . So I think America today is ready to do that what some folk would call crazy but it’s a good crazy. It’s a good crazy. And God takes care of folks who are good crazy.”

At a town hall meeting in Iowa, a kid asks Barack Obama “what money are you going to be on?”

Sound Bite: “They don’t put the president on money until long after you’re dead, so I don’t want to be on money anytime soon.”

The formal filing of papers for the New Hampshire Primary presents a nice photo op for candidates (as if they needed one), so as the deadline approaches we’ve seen a lot of speechifying outside Concord's capitol building. Here, Barack Obama files his papers (and leaves a little message next to his signature), then hits the capitol steps and does his high school football coach bit.

Sound Bite: “So my question to you, 'cuz I’m fired up, is whether you’re fired up? Are you fired up? Are you ready to go? Are you fired up? Are you ready to go?”

In Boston yesterday, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick says if Barack Obama is elected: bridges won't fall down, cars will be fuel-efficient, the nation will be at peace and Republicans and Democrats will work together for the common good. (Sounds like we're all heading to the Big Rock Candy Mountain.)

Sound Bite: “This election is not about who we want, but who are. And I want a President who understands that. I want Barack Obama.”

Don’t call Barack Obama a tax-and-spend liberal. As President, he’ll be a cost cutter -- when it comes to the Defense Department. Obama says he’ll stop spending in Iraq by ending the war and he’ll cut investments in “unproven missile defense systems.” Obama also pledges that he “will not weaponize space” and he will set a goal of “a world without nuclear weapons.”

Sound Bite: “I don’t posture on defense policy and I don’t take money from federal lobbyists from powerful defense contractors.”

In a new ad running in New Hampshire, Barack Obama says “we can’t just tell people what they want to hear, we need to tell them what they need to hear.” And what do we need to hear? America is addicted to foreign oil and the polar icecaps are melting. Have a nice day.