McCain Wins New Hampshire: Down to the Wire For Clinton and Obama

Posted on January 8, 2008

CNN has called the New Hampshire primary for John McCain. In second was Mitt Romney, with Mike Huckabee in third. The votes aren't all counted yet, but it's clear McCain is the winner and he's already given his victory speech.

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton has led all night by a slim margin over Barack Obama. CNN has called John Edwards as the third place finisher. With 63% of the precincts reporting, Hillary leads 39% to 36% over Obama. But the two major college towns have not reported in yet, and exit polls show Obama carried the youth vote, while Hillary carried the female vote, the union vote and the older voters.

Did Hillary's new campaign strategy of scrapping her stump speech and taking questions from voters win new supporters? Did they like what they saw in the debates last weekend? It's too soon to tell, but one thing's for sure: it's way to early in this race to count Hillary Clinton out, no matter what some pundits are saying.

Update at 9:49 CT: AP and NBC are calling the race for Hillary, but CNN won't call it, saying the two big college towns haven't reported in yet.

Update at 10:23 pm CT: It's official -- Hillary Clinton just gave her victory speech and it was a good one. She said she listened to what the people of New Hampshire had to say and in doing so found her own voice. She talked about her comeback and how she was ready to move forward and fight for those who needed a voice.

So much for the New Hampshire polls.