Comments like this one in my Daily Kos diary observed that the honor of first woman to win a presidential primary belonged to Shirley Chisholm who, as these bloggers observed, won the New Jersey Democratic Primary in 1972.  I quickly scoured the Internet and found the claim seemed to be correct.  Because of this evidence, I updated my diary at Daily Kos to reflect Ms. Chisholm's accomplishment.  

But not so fast.  Apparently, nothing is easy when it comes to any woman running for president, not even who is the first woman to have won a presidential primary.

Commentary in both my Daily Kos and MyDD diaries suggested that McGovern won in New Jersey in 1972.

I have done some research, and the fact of the matter is that I think it's a practical fact that Mrs. Clinton really and truly does hold the title of first woman to win a presidential primary, though Ms. Chisholm can lay a technical (but seriously more tenuous) claim to the honor.

I have purchased a New York Times article dated June 7, 1972, the day after the 1972 New Jersey primary.  That year, New Jersey held two contests.  One was a contest for delegates and included George McGovern and Hubert Humphrey.  The second contest was a beauty contest.  Concerning the delegate race, arguably the real race that day and by any measure, the only race that day that counted to lay claim on the nomination, Ronald Sullivan of The New York Times reported:

Senator George McGovern overwhelmed Senator Hubert H. Humphrey in yesterday's Democratic Presidential primary election in New Jersey. The South Dakotan held 5-to-1 majorities in some counties, capturing at least 65 committed delegates to the national convention and leading in races for 18 others of the state's 109.

The other contest, the beauty contest, had two contenders.  The New York Times reported:

In the nonbinding preferential race for the Democratic nomination, Representative Shirley Chisholm of Brooklyn, who apparently did not win any delegates, got more votes than former Gov. Terry Sanford of North Carolina. They were the only candidates on the ballot.

(Bold mine.)

So there you have it, Shirley Chisholm won a non-binding presidential primary against one other candidate but failed to register even a single delegate in her contest against George McGovern and Hubert Humphrey in the only contest that counted in the New Jersey race for the Democratic nomination on June 6, 1972.

I think it is safe to say that despite Ms. Chisholm's wonderful and notable accomplishment in New Jersey in 1972, Hillary Rodham Clinton has made history as the first woman in American history to win a meaningful contest for the nomination of one of the two major parties.  New Hampshire in 2008 is one for the history books.