MANCHESTER, N.H. (Jan. 8) — In an extremely tight race, Sen. Hillary Clinton has a slim victory over Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination.
At 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the projected results for the Democratic race had Clinton leading with 39 percent of the vote to 36 percent for Obama. Obama conceded his loss to Clinton shortly before 11 p.m The two were followed by former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina with 17 percent.
For the Republicans, Sen. John McCain won the New Hampshire primary with 37 percent of votes. The second frontrunner, the former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney got 31 percent. For the Iowa caucus winner, the former Arkansas Gov. Sen Mike Huckabee, the New Hampshire primary wrapped up with only 11 percent of the vote.
At the polls on Tuesday, many voters expressed great support for Sen. Clinton.
At Brookside Congregational Church, Sen. Clinton’s hard work and modesty won the vote of Nancy Berry. “She has a history of getting things done,” Berry said. “She has done a lot of good things as senator in New York, especially, working across party lines.” She added, “She puts her money where her mouth is.”
Berry, 69, praised Sen. Obama’s oratory and found him “very inspirational.” But she said that he lacked “a proven track record” of delivering on promises. “We want to vote for deeds,” Berry said, “not rhetoric.”
At Carol M. Rines Center, Drake Giles cast his ballot for Obama.. “It’s time for a change,” he said, “somebody fresh and new.” He wanted to choose somebody detached, he said, from “dynasties of the people who have been running the country.”
Amy Mauriello voted for Republican Sen. John McCain. She is a first-time voter and made a quick stop to vote before work. Sen. McCain, she said, was “one of the better candidates” among the Republicans. She “strongly disagreed” with Republican Congressman Ron Paul for his stance on building fences at the border and scornfully called the former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney “Bush II.”
At a youth center, Charlotte Lito, an independent, voted for former Arkansas Gov. Micke Huckabee because he represented the values that her family believes in. “He is very friendly,” she said. “He stands for family,” she added.
For Ashley Barton, a “hardcore Democrat,” all the Democratic frontrunners weighed equally. But Sen. Clinton became her choice. “I am a huge Clinton fan,” she said.
(Trina Joshi, a magazine-newspaper-online journalism graduate student, is covering the New Hampshire primaries for The Indian Express of New Delhi, India.)
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