- Title: USA: Presidential candidates campaign last weekend before New Hampshire Primary
- Date: 6th January 2008
- Summary: (W5) BEDFORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE, UNITED STATES (JANUARY 5, 2008) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF HOME WHERE ROMNEY IS MEETING - ROMNEY SIGN SITS ON FRONT LAWN ROMNEY WALKING DOWN STAIRS WITH HIS WIFE AND SHAKING HANDS ROMNEY LEAVING HOUSE AND WALKING OUTSIDE WITH SUPPORTERS AND HIS STAFF
- Embargoed: 21st January 2008 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Usa
- Country: USA
- Topics: Domestic Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA2BOHVQLYAT1FFGY0QPDGL8MY1
- Story Text: Presidential candidates from both parties spent Saturday (January 5) trying to garner more support, hours ahead of back-to-back debates that could reshape tight nominating races in New Hampshire.
Barack Obama, the Democratic winner of the Iowa Caucus, drew a huge crowd. More than 2,800 enthusiastic supporters began to line up hours before the event to see the Illinois senator.
Obama listed the issues he would confront if he were to become the next president.
"We will finish the fight against Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and then we will confront with the rest of the world the challenges that we face in the 21st century, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, climate change, poverty, genocide, disease. We want to send a message to the rest of the world that says you matter to us," Obama said.
New Hampshire's primary on Tuesday is the next battleground in the state-by-state process of choosing Republican and Democratic candidates for November's election to replace President George W. Bush.
The state is crucial to efforts by Clinton, the New York senator and former first lady, and Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, to revitalize their campaigns after disappointing showings in Iowa.
A Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll on Saturday showed Clinton's lead over Obama in New Hampshire shrunk slightly to 4 points, 32 percent to 28 percent.
John Edwards, a former North Carolina senator who finished second in Iowa, was in third place with 20 percent.
Democrat Hillary Clinton told 300 people in Penacook, New Hampshire on Saturday (January 5) that she had the experience to tackle problems on day one of becoming president.
"I'm running for president because I love this country and I know we can do better. I believe with all my heart that we can take on the challenges that we face and come up with real solutions," she told a capacity crowd.
Edwards railed against the political clout of corporate America. He warned voters to pick a candidate who says what he believes rather than just what is "good politics."
"The next president is going to be faced with very difficult times against these entrenched interests, and when the tough time comes if you're a politician who's saying it for politics, you'll do the political thing. You'll figure out what's best for you and that's the way you'll go.
If you believe it in here and take it personally, you will never walk away from it. You will fight and fight and fight until you win," Edwards said.
Among Republicans, Arizona Sen. John McCain's lead over Romney fell by 2 points to 32 percent against 30 percent. Mike Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister and former Arkansas governor who won the Republican contest in Iowa, gained 2 points to 12 percent.
Most of the polling in the four-day tracking survey was done before the Iowa caucuses on Thursday.
Romney led polls in Iowa for months before falling victim to Huckabee's late surge. He also led New Hampshire polls before the recent charge of McCain, an Arizona senator who won the state during his failed 2000 presidential bid.
All of the candidates will get a chance to make their case later on Saturday when they face off in back-to-back televised debates. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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