PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- Not much is certain in politics. Not exit polls, forecasts or punditry. Yet one thing that is for certain, coming out of New Hampshire, is that the 2008 presidential race remains very much up in the air.

“Look at what has happened so far," says George F. Will, the conservative columnist. "The very idea that money is all-powerful was struck down with Romney in Iowa and New Hampshire; the idea that organization is all-powerful was struck down by Huckabee.

"And with the Democrats we learned that the Clintons can top momentum in just about eight hours," he added. “So, in other words, just about anything can and will happen.”

Will's comments speak to not just the results in New Hampshire -- where the Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton race came to a stunning (mostly to pundits) conclusion -- but, in a larger sense, to the entire field of presidential candidates. No clear winners have attached themselves to either party’s base.

And that just may be a good thing.

“Change” was the overriding theme in the Granite State. That is, until it came to the winners and losers making their primary-night speeches. From second-placers Mitt Romney and Obama to first-placers John McCain and Clinton, they all avoided using that much-hyped word.

That is probably a good thing, too. At some point -- and the earlier, the better -- this race must become about something.

Political science professor Matt Lebo says to look for more scrutiny on the substance of Obama’s credentials -- especially from the Clintons. “You have already seen that begin with Bill Clinton’s attacks here in New Hampshire right before election night,” he says.

Apparently, those attacks worked. So did emotion: Hillary showed some and, based on exit polls, women in her age-range bought it, in large part because they saw it as a reflection of themselves.

Hillary’s “experience” tag line may also resurrect itself. On New Hampshire’s primary day, the Iranians were reported to have played a dangerous cat-and-mouse game with the U.S. Navy; Clinton’s vote on Iraq may have been on some voters’ minds, providing one more push forward for the New York senator.

Many political soothsayers moan that the Republican Party is in disarray, but why don’t they consider that state of uncertainty a good thing for the GOP?

Many people apply a waiting-for-Reagan standard to each Republican candidate. But they have made Reagan too much of a myth for any candidate to reflect. None of the candidates is perfect. Neither was Reagan. Continued...