Clinton, McCain Claim Victories in New Hampshire

By Anastacia Mott Austin

Those who expected Barack Obama to ride the wave of his victory in the Iowa caucus through the New Hampshire primary were sorely disappointed Wednesday morning.

After his surprising 9-percentage-point win over Clinton in Iowa, many predicted that Hillary’s campaign was over and Barack Obama was the new front-runner in the Democratic Presidential race.

And early results on Tuesday seemed to confirm the sentiment, with some predicting a sweeping victory for Obama.

But it was not to be. At the end of the day, Clinton emerged the winner, with a narrow 39% to 37% lead over Obama.

Some attribute Clinton’s win to a rare show of emotion on Monday, when she teared up after a voter asked her how she was holding up under the strain of campaigning. Replied Clinton, near tears, "You know, I have so many opportunities from this country, I just don’t want to see us fall backwards."

While evidence of real humanity may or may not have helped Clinton, political pundits say the answer is more complicated than that.

If nothing else, Hillary Clinton is a master at gauging the public climate and changing her strategy to accommodate it. In the days leading up to the New Hampshire primary, she made herself more accessible to the press and the public, answering questions for hours in town hall meetings, apparently realizing finally that to win the nomination she must seem like real human being.

However, the Obama camp has far from given up the fight. Rather, they are focusing instead on the races ahead, especially the upcoming primaries in Nevada and South Carolina.

Pundits say that Obama’s momentum from Iowa simply did not have time to catch up to reality in the five short days between the races, but that his win in Iowa may convince undecided Democratic voters that he can win the election. Obama is taking the long view, and says he’s ready for the next round, telling reporters, "I don’t expect this to be a cakewalk."

But experts say he may be in for a tough fight. Obama brought in a lot of independent voters, and the remaining primaries are mostly open only to registered Democrats, who tend to favor Clinton.

The New Hampshire primary was also disappointing for John Edwards, who finished in third place with 17% of the vote. Edwards vows to stay in the race until the nominating convention, and reminds the public that most voters have not weighed in yet.

On the Republican side, John McCain sailed to a predicted victory in New Hampshire, capturing 37% of the vote to Mitt Romney’s 31%.

Said McCain to the press, "I hate to use the word 'kid,'" referring to his age, "But I think we showed the people of this country what a real comeback looks like."

The New Hampshire win reinvigorates the McCain campaign, which struggled and all but collapsed last summer.

Added McCain to a crowd of supporters, "When the pundits declared us finished I told them I’m going to New Hampshire where the voters don’t let you make their decision for them." The crowd responded by chanting, "Mac is back!"

The New Hampshire primary marks a second defeat for Republican candidate Mitt Romney. The losses in Iowa and New Hampshire are particularly painful for Romney, as he outspent his opponents by a large margin in those states, to no avail. But the Romney campaign vowed to continue in the fight. "We’re not the campaign that characterizes certain states as must-win, because we’re competing in all of them," said a Romney campaign spokesperson to the press.

As for the other candidates, Iowa Republican victor Mike Huckabee took a disappointing third place with 11% of the vote, followed by Guiliani with 9% and Ron Paul with 8%.

The Republican candidates now take their campaigns to Michigan’s January 15th primary, then on to South Carolina.

The weeks to come should be fascinating, as 2008 remains one of the most wide-open campaigns in many years, with no clear front-runner in either party.

On a final note, voters may show that they prefer to be moved to tears rather than observe their candidates well up with emotion. The woman who asked the question that elicited tears from Hillary Clinton? She voted for Obama.