Voter who made Clinton teary picked Obama

Many political observers are crediting Democrat Hillary Clinton’s surprise win in New Hampshire to the New York senator’s rare display of emotion at a Portsmouth Coffee shop Monday morning.But Clinton’s tearful moment failed to win at least one Granite State voter — the very woman who prompted her response in the first place.

Marianne Pernold-Young told CNN Wednesday she ultimately picked Barack Obama in Tuesday night’s primary because of the Illinois senator’s performance at a recent rally she attended.

“I was moved to tears. Not once, but twice,” she said. “And he has this enormous electricity. And I was just taken aback. And I just had to go with my feelings.”

On Monday, Young asked Clinton how she was holding up under the rigors of a presidential campaign — an inquiry that cause the presidential candidate’s eyes to well up and voice to tremble.

“It’s not easy, and I couldn’t do it if I just didn’t, you know, passionately believe it was the right thing to do,” a teary Clinton said. “You know, I have so many opportunities from this country, I just don’t want to see us fall backwards.”

The moment instantly became the most-covered event on the campaign trail on the day before the critical New Hampshire primary, drawing praise from some who said Clinton had finally bared her true self to voters. The next day, Clinton won among voters who said a candidate who “cares about people” is most important (a category John Edwards won in Iowa.)

Young told CNN she herself was touched by the event, though it was not enough to convince her to support Clinton.

“I was very touched and I was totally in awe that she would open up to us, all of us there,” Young said. “But it was a delicate matter.”

On CNN’s American Morning, Clinton wouldn’t speculate whether the moment had put her over the top in the Granite State the night before, but said, “I’m really glad that I had a chance to say what I believe with all of my heart, that politics isn’t a game, it’s not a horse race. It’s about people’s lives.”

-from the CNN Political Ticker at CNN.com

Anchor suspended 2 weeks for “lynch” comment

Golf Channel suspended anchor Kelly Tilghman for two weeks on Wednesday for saying last week that young players who wanted to challenge Tiger Woods should “lynch him in a back alley.”Tilghman was laughing during the exchange Friday with analyst Nick Faldo at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, and Woods’ agent at IMG said he didn’t think there was any ill intent.

But the comments became prevalent on news shows Wednesday, and the Rev. Al Sharpton joined the fray by demanding she be fired immediately. Golf Channel didn’t know who would replace Tilghman in the booth this week at the Sony Open or next week at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic.

“There is simply no place on our network for offensive language like this,” Golf Channel said in a statement.

Tilghman became golf’s first female anchor last year when the PGA Tour signed a 15-year deal in which Golf Channel broadcasts the first three events of the year, weekday coverage of all tour events, and full coverage of the Fall Series and opposite-field events.

The suspension ends in time for the Buick Invitational on Jan. 24, when Woods will make his 2008 debut.

Faldo and Tilghman were discussing young players who could challenge the world’s No. 1 player toward the end of Friday’s broadcast at Kapalua when Faldo suggested that “to take Tiger on, maybe they should just gang up for a while.”

“Lynch him in a back alley,” Tilghman replied.

“While we believe that Kelly’s choice of words was inadvertent and that she did not intend them in an offensive manner, the words were hurtful and grossly inappropriate,” Golf Channel said in its statement. “Consequently, we have decided to suspend Kelly for two weeks, effective immediately.”

Woods and Tilghman have known each other 12 years. She was picked to host a club demonstration with Woods in south Florida when he talked about new products from Nike Golf.

Tilghman was helped when Mark Steinberg, Woods’ agent at IMG, said it was a non-issue and considered the matter “case closed.”

“Tiger and Kelly are friends, and Tiger has a great deal of respect for Kelly,” Steinberg said Tuesday night in a statement released by Golf Channel. “Regardless of the choice of words used, we know unequivocally that there was no ill-intent in her comments.”

Tilghman had said in a previous statement she apologized directly to Woods, and the immediate support from Woods’ camp was critical.

-from Yahoo.com

Clinton and McCain the comeback kids

Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain received much-needed boosts from New Hampshire Tuesday.

Clinton, coming off a disappointing third-place finish in Iowa, rebounded to overcome rival Sen. Barack Obama in the state’s Democratic primary.

Supporters at her headquarters chanted “comeback kid” as the results came in.

Clinton trailed Obama by 9 points in recent polls.

On the Republican side, McCain easily won his party’s primary.

The results mark a resurgence for the Arizona senator, whose campaign was all but written off this summer.

In Iowa, Clinton lost out to Obama among women 35 percent to 30 percent. In New Hampshire, however, 45 percent of female Democratic primary voters picked Clinton, compared to 36 percent who went for Obama.

Older voters also overwhelmingly outnumbered younger voters, a proportion that benefited Clinton. Sixty-seven percent of Democratic primary voters were over the age of 40, and they were breaking heavily for Clinton over Obama.

McCain overcame former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to seal the win in New Hampshire with 37 percent of the vote.

With 95 percent of precincts counted, Clinton had 39 percent of the vote to Iowa caucus winner Obama’s 37 percent. Edwards had 17 percent. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson had 5 percent, and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich had 1 percent.

With 95 percent of Republican precincts reporting, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani had 9 percent and Texas Rep. Ron Paul had 8 percent. Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson received 1 percent of the vote.

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch predicted a record turnout for the first-in-the-nation presidential primary. He said he expected half a million people to vote.

The leading presidential hopefuls are expected to head next to South Carolina, another key state in the race to the White House.

-adapted from CNN.com