McCain Clinches Win While Clinton Keeps Democratic Race Tight

MANCHESTER, N.H. — New Hampshire presidential primary voters gave comeback victories on Tuesday to Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain, two political veterans in desperate need of wins over relative newcomers,

New York Sen. Clinton edged Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, who won Iowa last week and, polls indicated, was en route to a breakaway New Hampshire win that would have forced her back to the drawing board.

McCain beat former Gov. Mitt Romney of neighboring Massachusetts, now deprived of both the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries on which his strategy was based.

"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 then what a comeback looks like."

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

Clinton, like McCain, spoke in comeback terms.

"I come tonight with a very, very full heart. And I want especially to thank New Hampshire. Over the last week, I listened to you and in the process I found my own voice," she said. "I felt like we spoke from our hearts and I am so gratified that you responded. Now together let's give America the kind of comeback that New Hampshire has just given me."

Obama, also deprived of an Iowa-New Hampshire double victory, told supporters here "I am still fired up and ready to go."

He congratulated Clinton on her narrow win but added, "A few weeks ago no one imagined that we'd have accomplished what we did here tonight in New Hampshire."

Romney also vowed to fight on.

"There have been three races so far," he said, referring to Iowa, Wyoming and New Hampshire. "'I've gotten two silvers and one gold."

But Romney had counted on gold, not silver, in Iowa and New Hampshire.

"Can Mitt Romney carry on with another silver in Michigan?" asked University of New Hampshire political scientist Dante Scala. "Or must he win a gold?"

On the Democratic side, third-place finisher John Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, said he will continue until the Democratic National Convention.

"Two races down. Forty-eight states left to go," said Edwards, who edged Clinton for second place in Iowa.

McCain, Scala said, "punched his ticket to the next round" by winning New Hampshire, as he did in 2000.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who defeated Romney in Iowa last Thursday, finished third, a satisfying result he said that surprised folks who questioned how well "this old Southern boy could possibly do up here in New England."

After all the votes were counted, officials expected to find that more than 500,000 of the state's 850,000 registered voters had cast ballots.

The decisive outcomes advance the races on both sides, with the next GOP battles in Michigan on Jan. 15 and Nevada and South Carolina on Jan. 19, and the next Democratic races in Nevada on Jan. 19 and South Carolina on Jan. 26.

In New Hampshire, registered independents – 45 percent of the electorate and targeted by the Obama and McCain camps– were free to vote in either primary. Exit polls indicated that 60 percent voted in the Democratic race.

These polls showed the economy was the issue of top importance to Democrats and Republicans, followed by Iraq. But in a split, most Democratic voters said issues drove their vote while a majority of Republicans said personal qualities and leadership were most important to them.

And 14 percent of the voters said they decided Tuesday who would get their vote. Independent Iris Hodgdon of Concord, a retired nurse's aide, was among them. She didn't even know which primary she would vote in when she arrived at her polling place.

"I just kind of got in there and decided I'll try McCain," she said, identifying Obama as her other favorite.

Obama, the 46-year-old freshman senator from Illinois, had surged ahead of Clinton in the five days since his commanding victory in Iowa. The final survey by pollster John Zogby before the New Hampshire polls closed Tuesday showed Obama leading 42-29 percent over Clinton. In the days before the Iowa caucus, Clinton had a 31-30 lead in New Hampshire.

Win or lose, Clinton insisted she is in the race to stay.

Likewise for Edwards, who edged Clinton for second in Iowa and has said he will battle for delegates until the national convention.

Throughout the campaign here, Obama drew huge enthusiastic crowds and media coverage that portrayed him as the hot candidate as Clinton aimed biting criticism at him, specifically, his lack of experience in Washington, just four years removed from the Illinois state Senate.

Former President Clinton, on the eve of the primary, was unusually harsh in criticizing the media for favorable coverage of Obama and accusing Obama of shifting his position on full funding for the Iraq war to reflect changing public attitudes on the war.

"Give me a break," the former president said. "This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen."

Obama expects to hear more of the same from the Clintons.

"Oh, I don't think it will be just in the next few days. I think it'll be, you know, until I'm the nominee or until I quit," he said.

For Edwards, the stakes in New Hampshire were especially high after having finished a distant second to Obama in Iowa. Edwards lacks the financial resources and organization of Obama in the upcoming primaries and caucuses.

But Edwards told enthusiastic supporters he is far from done.

"Two races down, 48 states left to go," he said. "Up until now about half of one percent of Americans have voted. Ninety-nine percent plus have not voted, and those 99 percent deserve to have their voices heard because we have had too much in America of people's voices not being heard."

He reiterated: "I am in this race to the convention and I intend to be the nominee of this party."

McCain's win capped a comeback that had him looking down and possibly out when he backed an unpopular troop build-up in Iraq and an immigration plan that many Republicans said labeled amnesty. In mid-2007, his campaign was about broke and he completely re-tooled his team.

In 2000, he won Michigan, 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 major efforts, though Giuliani continues to look forward to Florida on Jan. 29 and the 24 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 alright for Giuliani but devastating for McCain.

The surge that pushed Huckabee 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.