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Clinton, McCain reinvigorated by surprise comebacks

Led by Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain, candidates fanned out across the US yesterday in a presidential race dramatically reshaped by their comeback wins in New Hampshire.

Clinton, the New York senator and former first lady, defied the polls to narrowly upset Barack Obama in New Hampshire on Tuesday and set up a tough and possibly lengthy Democratic nominating battle that now heads to South Carolina and Nevada.

The 71-year-old McCain's political rebirth also gave his struggling campaign new life and put him in the midst of a wild scramble for the Republican nomination that has so far produced no clear favorite.

"New Hampshire voters turned this thing on its ear and said this is going to be a long race," former North Carolina senator John Edwards, 54, who finished third among Democrats but vowed to press on, told CNN.

`Super Tuesday'

The race to pick candidates for the November election to succeed US President George W. Bush now goes national before the Feb. 5 "Super Tuesday" showdown when 22 states hold contests.

The race changes from the intimate, face-to-face politics that characterized Iowa and New Hampshire to a national campaign driven by big-money television ads and cross-country plane trips.

New Hampshire's voters refused to follow the lead of Iowa, which last week gave Democrat Obama, 46, and Republican former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, 52, the first big wins of the US presidential race.

Clinton, 60, who finished third in Iowa, faced predictions of doom heading into New Hampshire. Polls showed her trailing Obama by double-digits, but she won by three percentage points.

"I listened to you and in the process I found my own voice," Clinton, who would be the first woman US president, told wildly cheering supporters in Manchester. "Let's give America the kind of comeback that New Hampshire has just given me."

"We came back tonight because we spoke loudly and clearly," Clinton said. "So tomorrow we are going to get up, roll up our sleeves and get going."

Obama, the Illinois senator bidding to be the first black president, had hoped for a New Hampshire win that would solidify his hold on the top spot in the race.

Instead, he sounded his campaign themes to a crowd that had come to celebrate but left somewhat disappointed.

"This moment, in this election, there is something happening in America," Obama said. "We are ready to take this country in a fundamentally new direction."

McCain's win was a spectacular comeback for the former Vietnam prisoner of war, who was written off for dead in the summer when he was low on cash, falling in the polls and shedding campaign staff.

"Tonight, we sure showed 'em what a comeback looks like," McCain told a crowd of supporters in Nashua.

Michigan

The next battle will be among Republicans in Michigan on Tuesday, where former Mass-achusetts governor Mitt Romney, 60, faces a possible must-win and McCain and Huckabee will also contend.

McCain won in Michigan during his failed presidential bid in 2000, Romney grew up there as the son of a former governor and auto executive, and Huckabee, a Baptist minister, will look to make inroads with the state's evangelical Christians.

South Carolina looms as a potential showdown state in both parties. The big Republican fight could occur Jan. 19 in the state, where McCain's 2000 bid effectively died in a bitter battle with Bush.

South Carolina has a huge bloc of religious conservatives who could be drawn to Southerner Huckabee, and former Tennessee senator Fred Thompson was already there on Tuesday as New Hampshire voted.

Democrats vote next in Nevada on Jan. 19 before their Jan. 26 showdown in South Carolina, where Obama could hold an advantage in a state where more than half of Democratic primary voters are expected to be black.

Republican former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani has focused his efforts on Florida, which votes on Jan. 29, in hopes a strong showing there will propel him into the Feb. 5 contests with momentum.

The first task for several candidates, however, will be replenishing campaign funds.
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