As some of the dust kicked up in New Hampshire and Iowa by the swirl of presidential campaign teams and media crews settles back to earth, it may or may not be worth noting the following:

We've thought for some time that a pro-Hillary Clinton voting surge by women was lurking below the surface and could propel her all the way to the White House, but the result in New Hampshire could not have provided a more dramatic example. If it is there, what it will say is, "Damn it, this time it's going to be a woman!"

Sen. John McCain is looking spry for someone 71 years of age, but that's what a nomination surge can do for a candidate. And after watching a Romney campaign ad attacking Sen. McCain on tax cuts and other issues, we would say the Arizona lawmaker is pretty close to being a Democrat. It would be interesting to see what the major issues might be in a campaign with an actual Democrat.

Although it's possible voters are becoming leery of Sen. Barack Obama's experience for the office, it still looks as though this race might go to the convention floor. Of course, that is something the Democrats would seek to avoid like the plague.

After two presidential campaigns, Sen. John Edwards seems to have a level of support

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that he just cannot exceed. A percentage in the low 20s.

How about Sen. Joe Biden for vice president, no matter who wins the Democratic nomination?

Now we have to hope that egomaniacal New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn't decide to jump into the race and destroy the democratic process. Voters should resent anyone who avoids the nomination battlefield and steps in late like the big rich guy who is going to save us all with his money-making expertise. Yuh. He's not as obnoxious as Donald Trump can be, but he has zero claim on presidential qualifications, and there is one striking reason to vote against him - he's a billionaire.

Sen. McCain would be stronger in a general election if he would promise to serve only one term. He would be stronger still if there is another terrorist attack on U.S. soil, but only if Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran and the other hot spots haven't exploded again. Iraq could make or break him.

Gov. Romney is the Ken doll candidate - and the one many Democrats would love to run against.

Gov. Huckabee is a funny guy, but he tells too many deadpan jokes to be president. And he would have to have a conversion at some point on the creationism thing - one hopes.

The best part of the entire New Hampshire primary was watching the yaking heads explain how Hillary won. They were backtracking like crazy, tossing their rock-solid theories overboard faster than TV meteorologists. On Wednesday they were explaining exactly what happened and where the races stand now. Beware.