The polls will be closing in about an hour and a half in New Hampshire, so here are some of my final pre-result thoughts on the proceedings:

(1) Weather, unbelievably great! An illustration of the old adage that if you don’t like the weather in New England, stick around for a few minutes and it will change.

(2) The high turnout is an indication that some of these candidates, at least, are exciting the populace. My bet is that the most excitement is generated by Obama.

(3) New Hampshire is indeed becoming a blue state.

On the latter point, it’s easy to forget how tiny New Hampshire is, and that it takes just a slight influx of liberal Democrats to change the political balance of the state. Here are the stats; you can see how small the state is and how fast it’s been growing. Anyone who lived there from the late seventies to the late nineties, as I did, can tell you how dramatic the changes have been.

If you want to know more of my thoughts on today’s NH primary, listen to the Sanity Squad podcast from last night.

[ADDENDUM, 9:10 PM Eastern time: Early returns indicate the Democratic race is closer than predicted, with Hillary in the lead, while the Republican race has already been called for McCain. Interesting. NH often surprises, although I’m never certain that the state primary there means a whole lot these days in the big picture.]