Barack Obama
didn't even have time to get used to being the front-runner
before he was the underdog again.
Hillary Rodham
Clinton's unanticipated victory Tuesday night in New
Hampshire evened up the Democratic presidential campaign and
turned it into a two-person race.
Two elections
within five days were enough to give any candidate
whiplash. But now the pace of voting slows a bit and gives
the candidates time to fine-tune their strategies for
what promises to be the most intense and expensive
race in history.
''We are in it
for the long run,'' Clinton said in her victory speech.
Clinton's win
stunned both campaigns. She had been preparing to shift
strategy to save her candidacy, while Obama had been hoping
momentum would carry him to the nomination by February
5 -- when 22 states hold Democratic nominating
contests.
Now the race will
focus on who can score in the two states that come
between now and then -- Nevada on January 19 and South
Carolina on January 26.
''I remain
convinced that what the American people are looking for is
somebody who is going to be able to rise above some of the
petty politics that we've seen in the past and really
focus on solving problems,'' Obama said the day after
the New Hampshire Primary.
For Clinton that
meant connecting with voters. ''I realized over the last
weeks that I had to do more to make sure people understood
why I cared about that, what got me up in the
morning,'' she said.
Clinton planned
to meet privately with advisers Wednesday to plot
strategy before returning to the campaign trail. Obama was
heading to the New York senator's backyard for a
speech in northern New Jersey -- an important state up
for grabs on February 5 -- before heading to South
Carolina on Thursday.
Obama's advisers
were so unprepared for defeat that they didn't even try
to explain his loss -- some call it spin -- to dozens of
waiting reporters at his election party. Instead the
senior strategists sent out a low-level staffer to
explain they were letting Obama's speech stand without
further comment.
Obama portrayed
Clinton as a kind of political grim reaper in his remarks
to supporters who chanted ''We want change!'' and ''Yes, we
can!'' He didn't mention Clinton by name but referred
to her chastising him for raising ''false hopes'' that
he cannot deliver.
''We've been
asked to pause for a reality check,'' Obama said. ''We've
been warned against offering the people of this nation false
hope. But in the unlikely story that is America, there
has never been anything false about hope.''
John Edwards's
loss in both Iowa and New Hampshire has diminished his
chance for the nomination, but he's staying in the race in
hopes that neither of the top two candidates can
secure the nomination or that one of them is forced
out in the heated competition.
Clinton's victory
came at the hands of women, who voted in larger numbers
than men and went for Clinton by 13 percentage points. Fewer
young voters turned out for Obama as they did in Iowa,
depriving him of crucial support. And he lost many
independents to Republican John McCain, who won his
party's primary in the state.
Even as the polls
incorrectly showed Obama rolling to another victory in
New Hampshire, the Illinois senator foreshadowed what was
ahead. ''My name is Barack Obama,'' he told reporters
with a grin Tuesday while stumping for votes in a
Dunkin' Donuts shop. ''I am never a front-runner. I am
always the underdog.'' (Nedra Pickler, AP)
