Thoughts On New Hampshire

--Barack Obama is a great orator, but not unlike many of the best, he really likes to hear himself talk. Someone should remind him that most of the world's greatest speeches were not written with the thought "this should make the top 10 all-time greatest speeches" list in mind. Dude, chill.

--About dang time Hillary Clinton dropped the fembot routine - and congrats to the person who gave her the "tonight, I found my voice" quip (I suspect Chelsea). Now if someone could just help the lady out with her wardrobe. Women of a certain age can dress professionally without looking frumpy - she's wandering dangerously close to Queen Elizabeth II territory here.

--We get it, Mitt Romney. You saved the Salt Lake Olympics (which I immensely enjoyed in person until my hero, Michelle Kwan, bit it). Enough with relating medal colors to primary placement. You're gonna lose count by Super Tuesday, and then what happens if you finish - as they say in figure skating - off the podium in one of the races - oh, the humiliation. And someone please go cut that guy's hair - it's really starting to creep me out.

--Points to John Edwards for putting a (male) hottie from "Desperate Housewives" up on stage with him. Made the Edwards speech soooo much more enjoyable. :-)

--I'll give John McCain this - he knows what separates him from the crowd of candidates (namely his military service - and God bless him for it and for the sacrifices he made serving his country) and he knows how to whip a crowd into a frenzy about it. Unfortunately, other than that, he's a big blah - and I blame his communications team. English, people, speak in plain English - what do you stand for, what do you want to do and why. Period. End of story. Everything else, especially when the field is so crowded, is just noise.

--Mike Huckabee's a funny guy. Funny as in funny ha ha, not funny he's talking to himself again. Of course, not sure if the North Koreans or the Taliban have a sense of humor, but hey, at least the American people would be entertained for four years. Don't knock it - it's an improvement.

--As John Edwards said, "Two down, 48 to go." And it's only January - oy vey.