In NH, Clinton pulls of one of the biggest upsets in American politics

Hillary Clinton was not supposed to win tonight. But she did.

She took the lead in early returns because of friendly big cities and everyone, even the Clinton campaign, crunching numbers said that towns in the Upper Valley, Cheshire County and college towns would come in big time for Obama.

As as the night progressed and the returns came in and Obama didn't not clean up in Hanover the way he needed to win. He only won liberal enclaves Durham and Portsmouth by 500 votes each when he needed to win by 1,500.

The tone in e-mails and phone calls to Clinton aides and supporters began to change. On Monday there was serious discussion that Clinton could get third by looking at their data from phone calls around the state. On Election Day there was a lot of discussion about what went wrong among Clinton supporters. Cable news channels buzzed about campaign staff shake-ups and new a new strategy. As a record voter turnout began showing up one Clinton aide asked a reporter "seriously, how bad is this going to be?" New Hampshire Democratic campaign chairs and prominent Democratic activists began pondering how an Obama blow-out tonight would re-shape state politics.

But all of that is irrelevant now.

Hillary Clinton stood in the same gym tonight where Howard Dean stood four years ago. But Clinton, of course, gave a different speech.

"I listened to you and in the process I found my own voice," Clinton said.

It will be a while until New Hampshire hears that voice again.