What’s happening to our nation?

In perhaps the scariest tally since David Duke’s run for the Louisiana governorship, Republican presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan captured 41 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s long-awaited New Hampshire primary election.

This result certainly should shake up voters when one considers that the ultraconservative Buchanan once said we should dig a large ditch around the United States to keep foreigners out. Have Americans truly become so disillusioned with the country’s economic situation that they’ll turn like cannibals to an elitist like Buchanan? These election returns should send a cold, nasty chill down this nation’s spine.

This amazing showing by Buchanan also shows that George Bush needs to stop hitting the snooze button and deal with the domestic dilemmas confronting the country. Bush also must deal with Buchanan directly, as it was reported that he first said the name ‘Pat Buchanan’ today. Bush had previously called his opponent “the far right.”

Meanwhile, the Democratic race provided a fluke win for Paul Tsongas over second place and much maligned Bill Clinton. Clinton was merely the victim of bad headlines in recent weeks while it was to be expected that Tsongas, a former Massachusetts senator, could win in his home territory of New England.

Clinton is likely to rebound because the Democrats are unlikely to try running the same formula again—a Greek, Massachusetts politician failed in 1988.