Last night I asked:

My first thought is, did the tears put her over the top? Is playing the victim Clinton's ace card? Remember, Rick Lazio's overly-aggressive moment is what put Clinton over-the-top in her first Senate race.

And, sure enough, the biggest story in the blogosphere today is Maureen Dowd’s column, asking, “Can Hillary Cry Her Way Back to the White House?”

From the column:

She won her Senate seat after being embarrassed by a man. She pulled out New Hampshire and saved her presidential campaign after being embarrassed by another man. She was seen as so controlling when she ran for the Senate that she had to be seen as losing control, as she did during the Monica scandal, before she seemed soft enough to attract many New York voters.

The Protein Wisdom blog thinks female New Hampshire voters were “womanipulated.”

Balloon Juice rejects the theory, and writes instead:

I still, at this point, do not know what Obama stands for other than “change” or something “new.” I honestly can not believe he has been able to get away with it this long, and I assure you, he will not in a general election. So that is why, in my opinion, Hillary won. She stands for something- something people can understand and grapple with. Not some lofty rhetoric about change that moistens loins at the American Prospect, but actual policy positions.

Michelle Malkin says Hillary’s “Access Hollywood” appearance probably helped.

Many liberal bloggers are being surprisingly kind to Hillary Clinton in the first moments since the AP and some news networks have called New Hampshire for her. My first thought is, did the tears put her over the top? Is playing the victim Clinton's ace card? Remember, Rick Lazio's overly-aggressive moment is what put Clinton over-the-top in her first Senate race.

Daily Kos’ Markos:

And the race is on! Hillary Clinton just showed everyone who had called this thing for Obama that, in fact, there's a much longer race in store. How exciting! No coronation this year. The candidates are going to have to earn their victory the old fashioned way -- one vote at a time.

And from the right, Red State’s Erik:

I think Hillary came back. Now we're going to hear the press get back on the bandwagon lest they get their throats slit. We'll be treated to "Come Back Kid" stories for a few weeks because the press is so predictable.

The always must-read Andrew Sullivan on McCain's victory:

After everything, this is McCain's night. After the awful news about Ron Paul's ugly, repellent past newsletters, I find myself rooting again for the man who was my second choice. He did this from scratch, after his campaign bottomed out last summer. He faced a much-better financed establishment candidate in Romney, he stuck with his immigration position, he kept up a schedule that would have drained a man half his age, and he stuck with the surge, a tactic that worked far better in damping down violence than I expected, even if it has not achieved its critical political objectives.

Sullivan certainly is not reflective of the Republican Party's views, but he may be tapping into a sentiment from right-leaning independents.

As John McCain's supporters continue to shout "Mac is Back!" I came up with an idea for a presidential campaign theme song not composed by U2.

British R&B crooner Mark Morrison's 1996 hit, "Return of the Mack." Ok, so the style isn't exactly McCain, but the lyrics could have been cut and pasted from his victory speech:

So I'm back up in the game

Running things to keep my swing

Letting all the people know

That I'm back to run the show

'Cos what you did, you know, was wrong

And all the nasty things you've done

So, baby, listen carefully

While I sing my come-back song

Some progressive bloggers are chiming in on early New Hampshire returns showing Hillary Clinton leading Barack Obama 40 percent to 35 percent.

Daily Kos' Markos Moulitsas:

If Hillary holds on, this thing will go a long way. All that money that is drying up for her? The spigots will open. And the rest of the country might have a say in this thing after all. The Obama people are fervently praying for these numbers to turn around. There is a lot at stake here.

MyDD is posting on what they hope is a downward trend for Clinton as the votes continue to come in.

Chris Bowers goes with a similar thread, writing:

Clinton is certainly doing well so far, much better than expectations. Still, one would expect that the larger, urban precincts haven't reported yet, and that those precincts should favor Obama. Also, there is no way that Edwards beats Clinton now. CNN has officially projected him 3rd.

The conservative Powerline blog is no fan of John McCain. But Paul Mirengoff gives some credit to McCain for his victory tonight:

New Hampshire, of course, is the perfect state for McCain, but it's also good state for Romney. For McCain to have defeated Romney there, after being so far being in the polls, is a terrific accomplishment for the Senator. UPDATE: It looks like Mike Huckabee will finish third with about 12 percent of the vote. That result won't hurt him one bit.

Worth asking again: Is this the start of a trend amongst conservative bloggers?

Here is some instant feedback from leading conservative blogs on John McCain's victory tonight in the New Hampshire primary:

Michelle Malkin is hosting a poll on whether conservatives would support McCain if he were the GOP nominee. With more than 10,000 votes already,

“Yes, sigh, I'd hold my nose and vote McCain” is leading with 49 percent of the vote.

Coming in second?

“No. Never. I'd rather be waterboarded” with 27 percent of the vote.

Captain’s Quarters' Ed Morrissey says: "This is a big hit on Romney."

And Red State’s Erik Erickson writes in a post entitled, “Romney Rising” Like Bread. McCain Wins New Hampshire”:

I bake bread on occasion. I like me some homemade bread. Here's a lesson I learned: If you let the bread rise too much, it collapses on itself in the oven. You must re-knead and re-rise to have a successful loaf. There's always Michigan and Mitt Romney's dough. But considering he said he was going to win New Hampshire because he was Governor next door, yadda . . . yadda . . . yadda . . ., conservatives are going to need to question his continued viability.

Now that the cable news networks are calling New Hampshire for John McCain, the driving question is how does his victory affect the McCain and Romney campaigns?

Romney has many built-in advantages in the upcoming Michigan primary, but so does McCain. Is this the end of the Romney campaign, or the second stage in a tortoise vs. hare(s) contest?

And even with the apparent resounding victory, McCain will soon face some of the very same questions the Huckabee campaign is facing, most prominently: How does your campaign continue beyond one friendly contest?

Follow all the real-time results with CQ's New Hampshire Primary page here.

A number of conservative and liberal blogs are responding to breaking news news that New Hampshire’s secretary of state is reporting “huge” turnout in early voting returns today.

On the right, Captain’s Quarters Ed Morrissey says the large turnout is bad news for Hillary Clinton and that “Conventional wisdom has McCain benefiting from a big turnout.”

Liberal Values’ Ron Chusid writes that he would expect independents to vote in the GOP primary if it’s clear Obama is headed for victory:

Whether the high Democratic turnout is an indication primarily of Obama’s lure or the excitement of finally having a truly competitive race won’t be known until we see the exit polls. I would have expected independents to swing towards the Republican contest, given that the polls show Obama winning comfortably while McCain and Romney are neck-and-neck.

The Carpetbagger Report says turnout may go even higher:

In previous cycles, there’s been a large after-work rush, so the “absolutely huge” description may be even more impressive by the time the polls closed.

Outside the Beltway and Open Left offer their observations as well.

My take on last night's Fox News Channel/GOP forum:

• Most Unusual Use of the Name of Former President Ronald Reagan: Two of the six references to the revered Reagan came when McCain and Giuliani both pointed out that Reagan supported amnesty for illegal immigrants in the 1980s. Meanwhile, Huckabee responded: “We all love Ronald Reagan, we want to be like him. But even Ronald Reagan made mistakes.”

Read the rest here.

The blog discussion is dominated today by this Drudge flash item speculating on whether Hillary Clinton will withdraw from the Democratic primary if she loses in New Hampshire tomorrow night.

However, most of the discussion seems to mock both Matt Drudge and the notion that Clinton would drop out, regardless of how she performs in NH.

While conservative blogs have no love for Clinton (unless they are scared of Obama), some of them are comparing this story to last week’s inaccurate Politico report claiming that Fred Thompson was about to drop out of the race after Iowa.

From the right, Captain’s Quarters:

It didn't work with Fred Thompson, and it won't work with Hillary Clinton.

Liberal leaning Wonkette asks mockingly:

Have you ever seen a sadder Drudge Report Siren?

And more Thompson comparisons from Outside the Beltway:

Even aside from the fact that this is on the Drudge report, this strikes me as wildly implausible. Unlike earlier reports that Fred Thompson would drop out after poor finishes in the early states, there’s just no reason for Clinton to quit. As noted in the previous post, she’s got more cash on hand than Obama and Edwards combined. And she’s got huge leads in several big states.