How Hillary Did It

But the big story was women voters. Why did so many switch to Hillary? Three pop-psych theories:

THE CRY
In 1972 Edmund Muskie famously lost the New Hampshire primary (he actually finished first, but by a disappointingly slender margin) after he cried standing on a platform in front of the Manchester Union Leader after the paper insulted his wife. (Muskie claimed it was snow on his cheeks, but the damage was done and he withdrew soon afterward.)

Whatever actually happened, the 2008 New Hampshire primary will be remembered for Hillary Clinton choking up when describing her everyday struggles. (The original question was about how she got through every morning when things were so tough.)

Even many of her harshest critics believed Hillary's emotions were authentic, which was a major advantage for her in closing the "likability gap" and erasing her image as too controlled and lacking in spontaneity.

THE REESE WITHERSPOON EFFECT
Once Obama won Iowa he was the certified cool and enormously popular kid in school. But as in any high-school election, the studious girls who show up to vote might harbor a few resentments about the boys. It's like the movie "Election," in which Reese Witherspoon's character, Tracy Flick, is an ambitious and too-perfect high-school senior who has the election stolen from her after she was expected to win against a cool but inexperienced jock. By the end of the movie she ends up on top.

FIRST LADY OF THE HOUSE
When Obama and Edwards seemed to minimize Hillary's contributions as First Lady, it reminded many women of how their own contributions at home have been underappreciated in assessing their talents and experience. (While at first it may have seemed to help Obama, Edwards wound up helping Hillary in New Hampshire with his tone-deaf initial comment dissing Hillary's now-famous cry as lacking in presidential toughness.) And while her angry outburst in the ABC News debate made some men think of shrewish ex-wives, it seemed justified to many women, who thought she had reason to be peeved.