Dissatisfaction with Bush Administration key to 2008 election

This is a fascinating analysis by Chris Cillizza from The Washington Post:

The tightness of the race between Clinton and Obama stunned many political insiders including even some within the campaign of the New York Senator.

A series of public opinion polls released in the run-up to today's primary showed Obama with a lead of 10 percentage points or more over Clinton.

State election officials predicted a record turnout of 500,000, as warm temperatures and extraordinary interest in the campaign drove voters to the polls. But independent voters, who were widely seen as the not-so-secret weapons of Obama and McCain, do not appear to make up any greater proportion of Granite State voters than they did in 2000 when both parties held contested presidential primaries, according to early exit polling.

As in last week's Iowa caucuses, Democrats are citing "change" as the most important trait in selecting their candidate, while Republicans chose leadership and personal qualities narrowly over specific issue stances in picking their candidate.

Unlike Iowa, however, early exit polling suggests that the Democratic electorate is neither considerably younger nor populated with more first-time primary voters than it was four years ago.

Dissatisfaction with the Bush Administration runs strongly through both party primaries, a further symbol of the apparent changing nature of these elections. More than six in 10 Democrats pronounced themselves "angry" at President Bush's policies while more than half of Republican described themselves as either dissatisfied or angry.

This is an important factor to consider in this election. The American people are disgusted with this George W. Bush administration, and they are taking this out against Bush in the election. On the Republican side, we've had the GOP electorate select either a socially conservative, populist, hard-liner in Iowa, and supposed "maverick" conservative in New Hampshire. On the Democratic side, we've seen a huge turnout of Democratic voters for a potential first African-American or a first woman candidate for the Oval Office. The American people are looking for change, after the seven disastrous years of this Bush administration. The presidential candidate that can project, and sell, this change to the American people, will become president.