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Obama, Huckabee in the lead
04/01/2008 09:53 - (SA)
Des Moines - With big wins in Iowa
in hand, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee and
the other presidential contenders headed to New Hampshire on
Friday to open a four-day battle for the next prize in the
White House race.
Obama, Huckabee and most of the rest of the Democratic and
Republican presidential candidates took overnight flights to
the New England state to resume a nominating fight that took a
dramatic turn in Iowa.
Obama's convincing Democratic victory, a historic first
step in his quest to become the first US black president,
dealt severe blows to rivals Hillary Clinton and John Edwards
and put pressure on them to revive their campaigns.
"Now we move on. We move on from Iowa to New Hampshire and
to the other states to determine who's best suited to bring
about the change that this country so desperately needed,"
Edwards said.
'Damaged Romney'
Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and an ordained
Baptist minister, severely damaged big-spending rival Mitt
Romney with his easy win in Iowa but will face a tougher task
in New Hampshire.
Huckabee had lagged well behind Romney and Arizona Senator
John McCain in polls in the state, which had a much smaller
population of the religious conservatives who fuelled his rise
in Iowa.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, had been running
against Huckabee in Iowa and McCain in New Hampshire at the
same time, and had aired strong ads criticising both.
Both Obama, 46, and Huckabee, 52, once trailed better-known
rivals Clinton and Romney in their race to be on the November
election ballot. But they rode a wave of grass-roots enthusiasm
to victories by touting an outsider's message of change in
Washington.
"We are choosing hope over fear, we are choosing unity over
division and sending a powerful message that change is coming
to America," Obama told thousands of cheering, chanting and
foot-stamping supporters in Des Moines.
The 2008 campaign was the most open presidential race in
more than 50 years, with no sitting president or vice president
seeking their party's nomination, and the Iowa contest was the
most hotly contested in the state's history.
Turnout among Democrats topped 220,000, smashing the
previous record of 124 000 in 2004 - testament to the high
enthusiasm among Democrats heading into November's election.
Valuable momentum
The prize for the Iowa winners is valuable momentum and at
least a temporary claim to the front-runner's slot in the
battle to win the party's nomination in the November election.
For Democrats, a second consecutive win in New Hampshire
would give Obama a huge boost in momentum and fundraising and
make him a strong favourite to capture the Democratic
nomination.
Clinton, 60, the former first lady who a few months ago was
considered in some quarters the almost certain Democratic
nominee, now faces a do-or-die battle to turn around her
campaign in New Hampshire over the next five days.
- Reuters
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