McCain Clinches the GOP Primary in New Hampshire

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Arizona Sen. John McCain, near broke and far behind several months ago, won Tuesday's New Hampshire GOP primary and climbed back into the race for his party's presidential nomination as he headed to upcoming contests that could be tougher battles for him.

"You know I'm past the age when I can claim the noun 'kid' no matter what adjective precedes it," McCain, referring to the "comeback kid" label, said in Nashua, "but tonight we sure showed them what a comeback looks like."

"When the pundits declared us finished I told them, 'I'm going to New Hampshire, where the voters don't let you make their decisions for them,'" he told supporters, who chanted "Mac is back. Mac is back."

Early returns showed McCain with an eight-point lead on Mitt Romney, former governor of next-door Massachusetts and owner of a New Hampshire vacation home. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, last week's winner in Iowa, was third.

"Who'd have thought it last summer?" said Dartmouth political scientist Linda Fowler, who still sees McCain facing major challenges in getting the nomination.

"If it was a narrow win, people would have said it's an aberration. But it's a pretty convincing win and that may help him. I still don't think he has enough time to put it all together."

The GOP race, she said, is "wild and woolly" and could remain so until Feb. 5, when a long list of states have primaries.

The New Hampshire race largely was a McCain-Romney battle, with Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, acknowledging that the lack of evangelical voters here made him a long shot. Exit polls showed that 29 percent of GOP voters identified themselves as evangelicals. In Iowa, it was 60 percent.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani largely skipped New Hampshire and stuck with a strategy keyed on later races.

McCain won despite exit polls showing more independents, free to vote in either contest, voted in the Democratic primary. Forty percent of Democratic primary votes came from independents, compared to 33 percent on the GOP side. His 2000 win in New Hampshire was fueled heavily by independents, many of whom were attracted this year by Democrat Barack Obama.

Exit polls, however, showed McCain winning among registered Republicans in this balloting.

McCain's win was crucial for his candidacy and Romney's second-place finish was damaging, coming in his backyard and in a state where he spent a fortune on ads and in the wake of the Iowa loss to Huckabee. But the Republican race could be headed for another reshuffling in the next major battles, in Michigan on Jan. 15 and South Carolina on Jan. 19.

Romney told boisterous supporters than he will campaign on and plans to win the nomination.

"I will fight across this nation, on to Michigan and South Carolina and Nevada and states after that," he said. "I will fight to be back here in November in those states and in others."

And in words that carried two meanings, Romney, who had counted on a win here and had more than 250 events in the state, thanked New Hampshire residents by saying, "We thought we knew New Hampshire, but now we really know New Hampshire."

Giuliani spoke to supporters in the state and then headed for Florida.

"This is just the beginning. Think of it as the kickoff in what's going to be a very long and very tough game," Giuliani said. "By the time it's over with, by February 5th, it's going to be clear that we're the nominee of the party."

Third-place finisher Huckabee gave a victory speech, telling supporters he had done better than anyone thought "this old unknown Southern boy could possibly do up here in New England."

"Frankly, I'm not sure what all some of you did that I don't even want to know, but thank you for getting it done because tonight we come out of here with continued momentum," said Huckabee, recalling he had thought a fourth or fifth place finish would be OK.

McCain's win capped a comeback from looking down and possibly out when his popularity plummeted as he backed an unpopular troop buildup in Iraq and an immigration plan that many Republicans said included amnesty.

McCain won Michigan in 2000, his last major win over eventual nominee George W. Bush. But this year's primary in the economically troubled state will be something of a home game for Romney, raised there as the son of the late George Romney, a former governor and auto executive.

This year's Michigan race will be the first in which McCain, Romney and Huckabee all are making significant effort, though Giuliani continues to look forward to Florida on Jan. 29 and the long list of states with Feb. 5 contests.

A Detroit News poll in mid-December showed Romney with a two-point edge on Huckabee, with the momentum strongly favoring the former Arkansas governor, who picked up 10 points since November.

Giuliani and McCain were in a close race for third place in Michigan, a finish that would be OK for Giuliani but devastating for McCain.

Michigan State University political scientist Paul Abramson, however, said McCain's win will help him in Michigan and Romney's campaign is now "on life support."

McCain is boosted in Michigan — which has no party registration and all voters can cast ballots in either primary — by the lack of a real race on the Democratic side, where Hillary Clinton is the only major candidate running. Barack Obama and John Edwards withdrew to protest Michigan's decision to move up its primary.

That makes the GOP contest the only game in town, and Abramson sees Democrats voting for McCain on the GOP side.

"I think Romney is in big trouble here," he said.

For Huckabee, the surge that pushed him to an Iowa win and has him competitive in Michigan also is evident in South Carolina, a state with a heavy evangelical electorate. Two December polls tagged Huckabee as the South Carolina front-runner. One had Romney in second, followed by Giuliani and McCain. Another had former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson in second, with Giuliani and Romney tied for third, three points better than McCain.

Thompson headed to South Carolina on Tuesday to work toward the primary that could make or break his campaign.

"I don't know of any better place to stand my ground and test my case than in South Carolina," he said as he began an 11-day bus tour of the state.

At another stop, he said, "This is where I have chosen to make my stand."