WBUR’s Claudine Ebeid reports:
“With just over an hour to go until the polls close Senator Hillary Clinton’s campaign site at Southern New Hampshire University is relatively quiet. Only staffers, media and security are milling about. Empty risers sit before a wall-sized American flag awaiting the Clinton supporters that are likely to file in around the time polls close.”
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee spent primary day going from polling place. At his first stop he met up with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and asked him for his vote. “I don’t think any of us can vote today,” Giuliani responded. The two candidates shook hands and parted.
Huckabee has said he doesn’t expect to win New Hampshire. New Hampshire does not have the strong evangelical Christian base that catapulted the former Arkansas governor to victory last week in Iowa.
Turnout appears to be brisk. The manager of a polling station in Rochester said one third of registered voters had cast ballots by 2:30 pm.
– Flo Jonic
Heavy turnout — especially on the Democratic side — has New Hampshire election officials scrambling to find extra ballots.
Sam Fleming, managing director of news and programming sends us this update from New Hampshire where he voted in today’s primary:
“Breezed right in. With only one question on the ballot the process took less than a minute. It’s easy to forget until you see a ballot how many actual names are on it. Many more names that you don’t recognize than the ones with the title of Senator and Governor. One television camera from Portland, Maine and a few campaign workers with signs supporting candidates outside. It’s a beautiful day in NH!.”
Election analysts Democrat Dan Payne and Republican Todd Domke join WBUR’s Bob Oakes to talk about the 2008 presidential race on the eve of the New Hampshire Primary.
From Gallup: “Sen. Barack Obama has taken a substantial lead over Sen. Hillary Clinton among Democratic likely voters in New Hampshire, and Sen. John McCain now has a modest lead among likely Republican voters.”
After coming second in the Iowa caucuses, the former Massachusetts governor is bombarding the airwaves and has seven face-to-face events today. But he’s up against significant challenges in the form of Senator John McCain, who is either slightly ahead in the latest polls, or statistically even with the former Massachusetts governor.
Now all eyes are on the Granite State.
WBUR’s Monica Brady-Myerov catches up with John McCain in New Hampshire where the political maverick has been campaigning hard. The poll of Granite State voters shows the Arizona senator leading Massachusetts’ former Governor Mitt Romney by 31 to 25 percent.
With less than a week to go until the New Hampshire primary, a Suffolk University and Channel 7 news poll shows Arizona Senator John McCain leading Romney. Romney led McCain by 12 points in the same poll last month. On the Democratic side, the new poll says Senator Hillary Clinton continues to have a wide lead over her competitors.
Political analyst Steve Stark speaks with WBUR’s Bob Oakes about what has happened in the race while many of us were celebrating the holidays.
It is back to New Hamsphire today where WBUR takes the pulse of Derry, HN voters on healthcare and the candidates. The series “Gateway to the Primary,” wraps up tomorrow with a look at how the War in Iraq is resonating as a political issue.
