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Clinton moves on to new battle
04/01/2008 18:22 - (SA)
Nashua, New Hampshire - Hillary Clinton flew into the political fight of her life on Friday, hours after crashing to a decisive defeat to Democratic foe Barack Obama in the first White House nominating clash.
Ordained Baptist minister Mike Huckabee meanwhile led the Republican influx into New Hampshire ahead of Tuesday's primary contests, hoping to turn his come-from-nowhere victory in Thursday's Iowa caucuses into a national surge.
Obama, basking in the spoils of a sensational debut victory in Iowa in his historic bid to become America's first black president, also landed in the New Hampshire, seeking to inflict another sickening blow on the former first lady.
"We are choosing hope over fear. We're choosing unity over division and sending a powerful message that change is coming to America," Obama, who is rallying a grassroots demand for change, said late Thursday.
The Illinois senator drew 38% of his party's votes in the caucuses, while Clinton slipped into third place on 29%, a point behind 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards.
Clinton is seeking the kind of boost in New Hampshire that revived husband Bill Clinton's White House dreams in 1992, and led him to dub himself the "Comeback Kid".
'Hillary will win'
She insisted she was "optimistic" and keen to get on with a national campaign, as aides predicted a "marathon" battle for the Democratic nomination.
"We have always planned to run a national campaign all the way through the early contests," said Clinton, who was due to hold an early morning rally with her husband, who remains highly popular here.
Shellshocked Clinton aides insisted that the former first lady, on her own historic quest, trying to become America's first woman president, would bounce back.
"This is one of 27 contests," Clinton campaign chairperson Terry McAuliffe told reporters. "Hillary Clinton will be the nominee."
Aides said Clinton had rallied top staff after her dispiriting defeat, but the reverse will spark speculation of a change of tactics or even a shake-up in the command structure of her campaign.
An average of New Hampshire polls by RealClearPolitics had Clinton with 34% to Obama's 27% and Edwards' 18%. It has McCain at 31.3% on average, Romney at 28.8%, Giuliani at 10% and Huckabee at 9.5%.
Casting doubt
Huckabee drubbed his top rival in the race, Mitt Romney, 34% to 25%, capturing the votes of the "Christian Right", and casting doubt on the former Massachusetts governor's national viability.
His win was also good news for Senator John McCain, who earned a virtual tie for a respectable third place, considering he did very little campaigning in Iowa.
The Vietnam war hero and Arizona senator stole away to New Hampshire before the Iowa results were even reported, and is expected to do well in a state he won 2000, before he fell to George W. Bush.
"We will win," he told reporters, with no doubt in his voice. "I'm very confident that we can.
Obama's triumph vindicated the 46-year-old senator's message of hope and political change, and repudiated Clinton's message that only she has the experience and political dexterity to bring about change.
"They said this day would never come. They said our sights were set too high," Obama said. "Years from now, you'll look back and you'll say that this was the moment, this was the place where America remembered what it means to hope."
Democratic senators Christopher Dodd and Joseph Biden were the party's two big casualties, both dropping out of the race after their poor caucus showings.
Huckabee, like Obama, benefited from a populist wave of anger at Washington politics.
'It ends at 1600'
"It starts here in Iowa, but it doesn't end here. It goes all the way through the other states and ends at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue one year from now," he said, citing the address of the White House.
The result further splinters the Republican field, with other leading candidates like former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani lying in wait in bigger states further on in the nominating process.
After New Hampshire, a series of other primary battles lead to February 5, when more than 20 states vote.
- AFP
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