A Clinton comeback?

Forget exit polls, real numbers are now coming in, as the polls have already closed in much of New Hampshire -- and Hillary's ahead! Clinton leads Obama, 11,734 to 11,097. That's with 10 percent of the precincts reporting... which is not a lot, but it's not nothing, either.

These will be mostly rural precincts, if I understand New Hampshire's poll-closing schedule correctly. Not sure what that means. Is Obama stronger in the cities?

Meanwhile, McCain leads Romney 37% to 28%, also with 10 percent reporting.

UPDATE: Now, as of 8:00 PM, CNN is projecting that Edwards will come in third, with first and second place undecided between Clinton and Obama. So their exit polls do not show an Obama landslide. Sounds like Lopez's numbers were about right. I'm telling you, this "record high turnout" may have been a bunch of bunk.

UPDATE 2: NBC reports that "Obama and Clinton are in a tight race which is too close to call." Time calls it "an unexpectedly close Democratic contest." And the spin has begun: "Clinton campaign officials are suggesting that a Clinton finish of less than 8 points behind Obama would make Hillary the 'Comeback Gal.' Note that in 1992 Bill Clinton lost to Sen. Paul Tsongas by eight points as well."

UPDATE 3: CNN projects McCain wins!

UPDATE 4: It's Hillary 40%, Obama 35% (!!) with 13 percent reporting.

UPDATE 5: If I'm doing the math right, I believe CNN's exit poll, based on gender, translates to an estimate of Obama 39%, Clinton 38%.

It shows 57 percent of the electorate being women, and Hillary beating Obama by a 45% to 29% margin among them. Obama won men 44% to 36%, but only 43 percent of the voters are men.

Also, Obama won almost 50% of voters under 40 years old, but just one-third of the electorate was in that age group. Among the two-thirds of the electorate 40 and over, Hillary won 42.5% to Obama's 34%.

So maybe there really was record-high turnout -- caused by a bunch of old women rushing out to vote for Hillary. Who knew?

Meanwhile, it looks like the "youth vote" fizzled again!

UPDATE 6: Dewey defeats Truman!

Comments

[Marty West]

Is anyone else as surprised as I am with how close Obama and Clinton are? I know there are only 10% reporting in now but still...

[Becky]

I loathe identity politics. It makes no sense to vote for Hillary because we both have two x chromosomes. Ugh!

[kcatnd]

Should be "Dewey Defeats Truman"

[Brendan Loy]

Quite right. Fixed it.

[Anonymous Hoosier]

Another great moment in journalism: Major Garrett on Fox News just reported that "the results may come down to some town I keep hearing about called Hanover." He kept calling it "this town called Hanover" until Brit Hume had to step in and tell him that Dartmouth is there.