Sign of the future: the New Hampshire primary is unusual because it’s an open primary — independents can vote in it. But in exit polling, among registered Democrats, Clinton beat Obama 45% to 34% — better than her showing among independents who voted in the Democratic primary. This is to Hillary’s advantage as the race continues goes on to states that have closed primaries.

We went to the theater tonight. As soon as we got home at 10:15, I turned on the TV to see that Clinton was leading Obama. What the hell? Twenty minutes later, news organizations began projecting her as the winner.

Despite being undecided, my heart sank. Does this mean I support Obama after all? I don’t know. But all the commentary in the last few days predicting a long-awaited end to the Bush vs. Clinton culture wars made me happy and excited. I was ready to wipe the slate clean. An end to political conflict.

And then I foresee Clinton winding up the nominee, and we get the same old politics; if she somehow gets elected, we return to the old Machiavellian-Clintonian tactics of the 1990s. Is that good or bad? I don’t know. I’m so confused. I thought I liked the Clintonian tactics. But although I’m a huge fan of Bill Clinton, his little rant today about the Obama “fairy tale” pissed me off.

Anyway, what this means is that we’ve got a race after all. Which is probably a good thing. The longer we go without a candidate, the longer we go without giving the Republicans a clear target.

If there hadn’t been any polls, this wouldn’t be such a shock. It would just be a result. The New Hampshire outcome is still close — it appears to be Clinton 39% to Obama 36%. This means they each get 8 delegates in New Hampshire.

This is so incredibly exciting. I love it. Even if I don’t know who the hell I support.