The battle for New Hampshire
Posted: Saturday, January 05, 2008 10:45 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Per a
7NEWS/Suffolk University
tracking poll released yesterday, "Romney has taken back the lead from
John McCain in the Republican Primary, while Hillary Clinton maintains
her lead over Iowa Caucus Democratic winner Barack Obama.” The
Republican numbers: Romney 29, McCain 25, Huckabee 13, Giuliani 9, Paul
8, Thompson 2, Hunter 1. Twelve percent were undecided. The Democratic
numbers: Clinton 37, Obama 25, Edwards 15, Richardson 4, Biden 2,
Kucinich 1. Twelve percent were undecided.
According to Suffolk's analysis: "Although Clinton led most categories,
Obama led Clinton 33 percent-to-30 percent among young independent
voters, the same demographic that propelled him to victory in Iowa. The
question now becomes: Can Clinton sustain her current advantage across
the board."
The
Washington Post says
Obama “brought his surging presidential campaign to New Hampshire on
Friday, looking to put himself in control of the Democratic race with a
victory here Tuesday, while Republican Mitt Romney sought to head off a
potentially crippling loss by launching a fresh attack on the revived
candidacy of John McCain… [W]hile Huckabee will probably be content to
look ahead to the Jan. 19 GOP primary in South Carolina to build on his
Iowa victory and to allow McCain and Romney to bloody each other in New
Hampshire in the meantime, the Democratic contest here will be a
critical test for Obama. If the senator from Illinois can defeat
Clinton here, he could potentially erase doubts about his viability
among voters in subsequent contests and seize the front-runner's
mantle. Clinton's camp, fearing the impact of back-to-back defeats,
moved quickly to renew attacks on Obama's experience Friday.”
The
Boston Globe: "Clinton, Romney step up attacks."
The
Washington Post wonders if the compressed nominating calendar will make the bounce from Iowa even larger. “Starting with the Iowa caucuses, 31 states will vote over 33 days for the nominee of one or both parties, compared with just nine states that voted in the equivalent period eight years ago. The furious pace of contests this year will be so intense that it could make momentum king and increase the challenge exponentially for … Clinton and … Romney as they try to shrug off defeats in Iowa and regroup for New Hampshire's primary on Tuesday. That proves a bitter irony for both camps, which had built their strategies around the assumption that they would exploit the compressed schedule to roll over other candidates before anyone had a chance to catch up.”
The
Union Leader previews tonight’s debates. Kucinich, Gravel and Hunter were not invited to attend.
Secretary of State Bill Gardner
predicts a half-million people turnout to the polls Tuesday: 260,000 on Dem side; 240,000 for Republicans. Of the undeclareds, he thinks about 90,000 will vote Democratic and 60,000 will vote Republican. And that 50,000 will register that day. The record turnout is 396,000 set in 2000.
