Has any southern candidate done well in New Hampshire? Bill Clinton came in second, despite his spin at the time about the "comeback kid."

I ask because I'm a little surprised at the antipathy expressed by Frank Luntz' focus group to Fred Thompson.

Indeed, it's an extremely lazy request. All you have to do is look it up in Wikipedia.

Other than Gore, Carter, Johnson, and Kefauver, no Southerner has won a contested New Hampshire primary. Which is to say, Southerners have a very good chance of winning the Democratic primary in New Hampshire. Republicans from the South have never pulled it off.

But hey, say that Thompson comes in a respectable sixth in New Hampshire. He can say that he's winning --- but victory is still fragile. Whatever you do, don't listen to defeatists. Defeatism is defeat.

Furthermore, Southerners have beaten Northerners in contested elections.

http://rhodescook.com/analysis/presidential_primaries/nh/winners.html is a useful site.

Jim Harris:

So you answer Rand's bleg, but in punishment you snark lamely at him?

"Punishment" is far too strong a word to apply to Jim's annoying blather. It's sort of like verbal mosquitoes. I rarely pay much attention to it, and when I do, I probably do so too much.

Is there an electronic version of "Off" bug spray?