WASHINGTON, 9 January 2008 — After months of listening to the political nominees make their pitch, voters in New Hampshire had their say yesterday, going to the polls to decide who they want to be their next leader in the state-by-state process of choosing Republican and Democratic candidates for November’s presidential race.
Although results of yesterday’s votes will not be announced until evening, Sen. Barack Obama leads in all eight new polls released in the last 24 hours, while Arizona Sen. John McCain tops former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in seven of the eight.
New Hampshire voters streamed into polling places in large numbers yesterday, as the contenders vied for support from the undecided and worked to turn out their backers.
Seeking to continue the momentum he gained from his victory last week in the Iowa Democratic caucuses, Obama appeared to be in a strong position to deal another major setback to his chief rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, who trails him by double digits in the latest New Hampshire polls.
So heavy is election turnout that some polling stations are reporting that they are running short of Democratic ballots. Pundits view this as good news for Obama’s campaign.
The Republican front-runner in the state, McCain, looked for a decisive win over Romney in an effort to cement his comeback status in a wide-open GOP race.
Like other candidates, he sought support from New Hampshire’s large bloc of independent voters, estimated at 45 percent of the nearly 830,000 people registered to vote. In New Hampshire, independent are allowed to vote in either party’s primary, which gives them added importance and has prompted candidates to reach out beyond their bases to broaden their appeal.
Polls opened statewide at 6 a.m. yesterday. Voters lined up at polling stations in unseasonably balmy weather. The polls were scheduled to close at 8 p.m. with results expected to start rolling in soon after that. Temperatures were forecast to reach the low 60s, bolstering state election officials’ predictions of a record primary turnout.
Hillary braced herself for a second defeat at the hands of Obama as the New Hampshire voters cast their ballots in the state’s crucial primaries.
The young Illinois senator, who (along with for North Carolina Sen. John Edwards) beat Hillary into an embarrassing third place in last week’s Iowa caucus, has seen a surge of support in the state on the back of his Iowa upset. Obama leads Hillary in all categories of voters except women and voters over the age of 65, and is pulling away from the New York senator among base Democratic voters.
“I think the last time I felt like this was when I was a kid on Christmas Eve and I knew I was going to get a bicycle in the morning,” Ray Buckley, chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party, said, referring to the enthusiasm that pundits are calling “The Obama Effect.”
On the Republican side, McCain has drawn the largest crowds — and McCain’s revived campaign was in “Mac Is Back” rally mode. Crowds attending his rallies have been a bazaar of political activism, including a large contingent of sign holders for McCain’s GOP rivals, especially Ron Paul, and many placard-carriers for other causes — opponents of amnesty for illegal aliens and the war in Iraq, and advocates for health care reform.
