How did Hillary do it?

“Clinton World has been through our share of near-death experiences, but none as staggering as this one,” writes Bruce Reed in Slate. “Hillary Clinton had 96 hours to right herself and stave off a tidal wave of support for Barack Obama. It was a little like telling Lazarus that if he could somehow figure out how to rise from the dead, he’d still have to part the Red Sea.”

“Whatever else happens in this remarkable race, what Hillary Clinton won Tuesday was much more than a primary. In New Hampshire, she found her voice, and her cause, in the indelible bond she forged with the people who stood by her when she promised to stand up for them.”

In short, Hillary got human. And unlike Iowa, she connected with female voters.

You can’t put it all down to the coffee shop cry, or what Politico dubs “Hillary’s mosaic of emotion” but “it seems entirely plausible to me that undecided New Hampshire women shifted to Hillary in the last few days because they were both wincing and empathizing as they watched her struggle with her sudden second-tier status,” says The XX Factor on Slate.

“Others like me, who were ‘not Hillary supporters, but …,’ were downright mortified by the eagerness with which cable news networks, the New York Times, the Boston Globe and even her opponents felt free to declare Clinton yesterday’s news,” says Rebecca Trainter in Salon.

Sympathy, and empathy, seems to be the general consensus as to how the Comeback Kid Mark Two defied all the polls and beat Barack Obama to claim the New Hampshire primary.

“The Clinton era was over for a grand total of five days,” laments Fred Barnes in The Weekly Standard. “It was nice while it lasted–from the Iowa caucuses to the New Hampshire primary. But now Bill and Hillary are back in full force, with Bill doing the dirty work of trashing Barack Obama and Hillary stressing how much she cares. This division of labor seems to work.”

There’s a s-xism vs racism element to the Dem race, writes Michelle Cottle in The New Republic. Not to say that “people don’t think that it would be a kick for a gal to shatter the highest of all glass ceilings–not to mention inspirational for all those young American Girls out there watching the process–but the idea doesn’t strike the same chord of moral redemption as when we talk about a black man doing the same.”

“I suspect this has something to do with the different forms racism and s-xism have taken in America, especially in recent years. Until just a few decades ago, our racism was blatant, violent, and indisputably hate-filled,” says Cottle. “By contrast, American s-xism (and I’m obviously dealing in generalities) has tended to be of the kinder, gentler, more patronizing, paternalistic variety.” Kind of like some sections of the media have been treating Hillary.

Barack is looking ahead, reports The Washington Post. “To Obama’s senior strategists, New Hampshire changes very little. While they acknowledge that a win in the Granite State would have put him in the pole position for the nomination, they point to what they believe to be their financial and organizational edge in a series of soon-to-vote states as evidence that the Illinois Senator remains well-positioned to win the nomination.” In the short term, he just received the backing of the Culinary Workers Union, which represents more than 60,000 men and women who work in the Las Vegas casinos, “a tremendously powerful force in state and local politics and almost assuredly will help Obama’s ground game in the state.”

Meanwhile, McCain’s moment is being buried by all the Hillary hysteria, but his victory “is a lesson in the power of perseverance,” writes The National Review Online. “Written off for much of last year, he now seems, to many observers, the most likely candidate to win the Republican nomination.”

“Forget what the polls say if you want to know what happens next. Forget the establishment media, too,” says The Nation. The results in New Hampshire mean that “for now, the race is wide open. And that’s a good thing.”

“For now, candidates will be tested instead of crowned. And that gives us time to push from outside to define and sharpen candidates’ stance on issues we care about…”