By: KENNETH MAXWELL

Folha de São Paulo - Op-ed section - page A2   

The first primary in the U.S. presidential campaign, where voters actually cast secret ballots, produced unexpected upsets in New Hampshire this week. On the Democratic side the charismatic African-American senator Barak Obama of Illinois had been unanimously predicted to be the winner. In fact, when the votes were counted, it was the plodding Senator Hilary Clinton on New York who won on the democratic side. Among republicans, the well financed, Mitt Romney, former governor of the neighboring state of Massachusetts, was roundly defeated by the underfinanced 71 year old senator John McCain of Arizona. It was a memorable night in American politics.

In many ways the New Hampshire primary did what the primary was originally invented to do when introduced at the beginning of the 20th century as part of the progressive political reform movement; to give the power to select candidates back to the people in a transparent process, and take it away from political bosses making deals in back rooms. The citizens of New Hampshire take their unique role in American politics very seriously. Many remain independent of either of the major political parties but are allowed to vote for the party candidates. As a result New Hampshire remains the classic locale for "retail" politics where candidates are forced to do politics the old fashioned way: To get out and meet real individual voters and listen to their concerns.

For Senator McCain retail politics worked. His views on the war in Iraq and on immigration were not popular in New Hampshire. But McCain told his audiences he was there to tell them the truth as he saw it, even if they did not agree with him. Facing the opportunistic Romney this proved a powerful message. The pundits have now attributed Clinton's remarkable turn around to her "emotional moment" when she teared up in a proverbial New Hampshire lunchonette thus demonstrating she too was "human". In reality it was old fashioned political organization that got out the votes on the democratic side. The youthful star struck crowds that attended Obama rallies in huge numbers were the antithesis of retail politics New Hampshire style. On the day that mattered, it was the reliable older democratic union workers worried about the economy, together with a majority of mature women, who actually turned up at the polling booths to give Senator Clinton her famous victory.

KENNETH MAXWELL is a weekly op-ed columnist (every Thursday) for Folha de São Paulo, Brazil's leading newspaper.