US News
Obama off to strong start in tiny New Hampshire town
Jan 8, 2008, 11:25 GMT
Illinois Senator and Democratic US Presidential hopeful Barack Obama (L) smiles with his wife Michelle Obama at the start of a campaign rally at the Concord High School in Concord New Hampshire USA, 07 January 2008. Voter polls show Senator Obama with a strong lead over his fellow candidate, New York Senator Hillary Clinton, in the state of New Hampshire where the first in the nation primary is held on 08 January 2008. EPA/CJ GUNTHER
Washington - Democrat Barack Obama was off to a strong start in the New Hampshire presidential primary early Tuesday, nabbing seven of the 17 votes cast in the tiny northern town of Dixville Notch shortly after midnight local time.
Senator Obama, 46, who is seeking to become the first African American in the White House, took seven of the 10 Democratic votes cast, leaving his chief rival, Senator Hillary Clinton, 60, empty-handed. Former senator John Edwards received two votes, and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson received one vote, according to broadcasts of the voting.
On the Republican side, Senator John McCain, 71, took four votes, leaving two for former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and one vote for former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Commentators were surprised at Obama's strong showing in this Republican stronghold near the Canadian border, where the community started the tradition of voting promptly after midnight (0500 GMT) in 1960.
Other communities have followed suit, but Dixville Notch grabs media attention as the originator of the tradition.
Many of the 17 voters work for the Balsams resort, which has a 'ballot room' where voters filled out simple paper ballots and stuffed them in a wooden box. The room is filled with memorabilia and photos of past presidential hopefuls who have made it that far north.
Election officials were able to close the voting session immediately and count the ballots because they could account for each and every registered voter. Under state law, independents can also cast votes in the party primaries.
The rest of the state is set to start voting around 7 am in the crucial first round of formal voting for presidential candidates. Only days ago, New Hampshire appeared to be in the corner of former first lady Clinton, but she suffered a disappointing third-place finish Thursday in the Iowa caucuses, where Obama achieved a decisive victory.
Two polls on Monday gave Obama double-digit leads over Clinton.
Clinton came close to tears Monday while rallying for support, growing emotional in response to a question about how she kept up the gruelling pace on the campaign trail and what motivated her to keep going.
'Some people think elections are a game. They think it's like who's up or who's down,' she said, speaking softly as her voice began to crack. 'It's about our country, it's about our kids' futures, and it's really about all of us together.'
On the Republican side, polls pointed to a win for McCain, the independent-minded US senator who called for more troops in Iraq long before President George W Bush. McCain also achieved a victory in the state eight years ago when he was running against Bush.
Candidates had only five days after the opening Iowa caucuses to reshape their strategies and launch a massive final campaign blitz in New Hampshire.
The next major votes in the series of state-by-state contests to choose the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates are in South Carolina on January 26 and Florida on January 29. Nearly two dozen states hold primaries on February 5, a crucial nationwide test dubbed Mega Tuesday.
© 2008 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Older Talkback
page: 1
...uh.....That's all very nice...I'm voting republican, so I don't really care who the dems nominate.
Try getting out (of mom's basement) more. Upgrade your wardrobe, take a Dale Carnegie course....
Get out of the basement more??? - you've got to be kidding - this from someone who apparently is on this site 24/7. Some people actually have a life beyond their computer!!
of SP4 - 'Don't confuse me with choices, I'm voting republican. Don't give me the opportunity to think about which man would be the best person as president, I'm voting republican. Give me any MAN you like, as long as he is Republican.'
No wonder tha US is in trouble, damned few of them THINK. I guess I shouldn't be so hard on them, for it starts with their educational system. It teaches them what to think, not how to think. A pack of programmed monkeys.
Partisan politics is for sissies - people who don't want to tax their brains with a thought process. We live in an area that is so strongly Republican that you could get a dog from the local pound to run on that ticket, and it would win!
Of course SP4 will unthinkingly vote Republican. I can hear his excuse now - 'We were only following orders...'
I know exactly what you mean. In our area, some years ago, the republican candidate died a month-and-a-half before the election and still won!
just like bush .
dead man walking.
I DID think about it, and that is WHY I'm voting republican. Perhaps you should go back and ask yourself why you object to the way I'm voting and why you object...I don't call you libnazis for nothing!
ess pee has choices: all republican!
Put the word out: we've chosen sides. Ever wonder where 'Neocon' comes from?
They were disgruntled democrats who defect, in the sixties because of a President who went to war (sound familiar?) and then chose to lose it (not familiar). The dems walked away from the Kennedy ideals and we went too.
Yes, democrats are the reason we exist. Besides, we already know all about Hillary, Obama and Edwards. It's a short story.
RE:'what will you all do if your wonderful hilliary-repub choice for dems does not become the real democratic candidate?'
Personally, I am tickled pink with Obama. I may even vote for him in the general. It all depends on who wins the GOP primary.
rants on and on, inanely. Or should I say insanely?
I think both!
I voted independent once. The next time I switch parties, it will have to be for a pretty terrific reason, and the shrew, the breck girl or the junior senator from Illinois are not good enough reasons for me. If I want three inexperienced candidates, I could just throw out McCain and Thompson then choose from a bevy of them, each with more executive experience than all three of the democrats put together.
Sorry, did I insult anyone?
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ForSPFool&PoorteaxasbumpkinwithNocoathangerJan 8th, 2008 - 12:06:47
what will you all do if your wonderful hilliary-repub choice for dems does not become the real democratic candidate? You southern braindead perps of hate will have to go back 150 years to your pro-slavery days, and just start spouting racial slurs to try to stop the change toward the country endorsing the demonrats you guys love to hate. While you neoconartists can't think your way out of a paper bag, and lust for hellery just to rip to shreds, Obama is positioned to rob you retard repubs of the target you all want to shoot at.
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