Voting begins in New Hampshire
Hillary Clinton plans to fight on until Super Tuesday on February 5th
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Tuesday, 08, Jan 2008 07:57
A tearful Hillary Clinton faced another setback to her presidential campaign as voting began in New Hampshire.
The second state primary saw Ms Clinton again trailing in the polls behind 46-year-old Illinois senator Barack Obama, who won the Iowa caucus last week.
Mr Obama has been playing up the politically vital momentum he gained from that win, telling crowds "you're the wave and I'm riding it".
He said in an interview with PBS: "There is a sense of hopefulness, and interest, and engagement among the electorate that I don't think we've seen in a very, very long time."
Ms Clinton has been forced into a more dogged stance, however, after coming an unexpected third in Iowa last week.
"It's not easy and I could not do it if I just didn't passionately believe it was the right thing to do," she said, fighting back the tears.
In the small village of Dixville Notch, which traditionally votes first in New Hampshire, Mr Obama won seven of the ten Democrat votes cast while Ms Clinton took none.
In the Republican equivalent John McCain, who came fourth in Iowa, won four votes to Mitt Romney's two and Rudy Giuliani's one. Mr McCain's lead appears to be reflected in polls across the state.
The winners of the New Hampshire vote will take important impetus from their victory before 20 states vote on February 5th.