DevalWatch: Clinton Upsets Obama, Patrick Upsets Old Employer?

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Despite polls showing large leads for Barack Obama in the Democratic primary, the Granite State used its moment in the national spotlight yesterday to give Hillary Clinton a narrow victory and new electoral life.

Voters transformed the dominant narrative of recent news cycles, Obama's historic rise to front runner. The last dispatch from the Weekly Dig---whose trio of writers have been besting the bigger Boston papers with lively coverage of the primary over the last few days---proclaims, "The only remaining though admittedly far-fetched chance of stopping Obama now is if Hillary drops out of the race..." That seems unlikely at this point.

National pundits straining to explain Obama's defeat could return to what's familiar about the region--the Red Sox. Noam Scheiber of the center-left magazine The New Republic suggested that perhaps "...the white working class in Iowa and elsewhere in the midwest is simply more progressive on race than the white working class in New England." While noting the election of our governor, Deval Patrick, Scheiber presents the hard evidence: Barry Bonds' view that he would never play in Boston due to perceived racism. (Somehow we doubt Bonds would be much happier batting for the Iowa Cubs.)

Speaking of Governor Patrick, how will backing Obama in New Hampshire impact his political future? The two Harvard Law alums obviously share a heartfelt message of hope and a series of precedent-shattering victories. But Patrick was also an appointee in Bill Clinton's administration, and the former president was a huge asset in Patrick's gubernatorial campaign. Patrick might regret not opting for neutrality if Hillary's post-New Hampshire momentum gets the Clinton family back into the White House.

Here's a video of Deval Patrick stirring up canvassers for the Obama campaign:

Post contributed by Gerard Sloan. YouTube video from BarackObamadotcom.