Barrack Obama hopes his Iowa momentum will help him capture the lion’s share of New Hampshire‘s large contingent of registered independents.
He arrived here early Friday morning after beating chief Democratic rival Hillary Clinton by nine points in the Iowa caucuses. With New Hampshire’s primary just four days away, Obama is either tied or trailing Clinton slightly in state polls, thoughmost of the surveys were taken before his Iowa win.
Political strategists familiar with New Hampshire politics say Obama’s sizeable Iowa victory will help attract many of New Hampshire’s 73,000 independent voters, who make up 44 percent of the electorate.
“The independents don’t like the partisan politics and that is the appeal of Obama,” said New Hampshire pollster Dick Bennet, director of the American Research Group poll, which gives Clinton a 31-27 edge over Obama as of Friday based on a pre-Iowa survey. “His winning in Iowa opens the door to those voters taking a look at him.”
Part of Obama’s challenge will be persuading Independents to vote in the Democratic primary rather than in the GOP race, in which John McCain appeals to their maverick tendencies.
Clinton has a slight organizational edge on Obama in New Hampshire, where her husband campaigned beginning in 1992. But party officials say organization may be less important because voter turnout may reach 80 percent, dwarfing attendance at the caucuses.
“When you are reaching that level of turnout, no organization has the ability to have that significant an impact on a race,” New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley said. “It’s the candidate with a compelling message who benefits.”
At a rally that attracted hundreds in Portsmouth Friday, Obama did not divert from his usual campaign message, promoting himself as the hopeful candidate who would change the way things are done in Washington. Clinton, in Manchester, continued to distinguish herself from Obama as the more experienced candidate.
Now the underdog, Clinton also pledged to draw sharper lines between herself and Obama, and her top campaign aides suggested the jabs could get serious.
Obama campaign spokesman David Axelrod said his camp is ready to combat attacks from Clinton, adding, “We’re not going to be passive about doing it.”
