Voters flock to polls in New Hampshire

11.45am

MANCHESTER - New Hampshire residents flocked to the polls today in a Democratic primary that could cement John Kerry's role as leader of the presidential pack and seal the fate of Howard Dean's roller coaster campaign.

Kerry, whose come-from-behind win in Iowa last week turned the 2004 presidential race upside down, was a solid favourite in public opinion polls heading into the first primary of the Democratic race to pick a candidate to challenge President George W. Bush.

Some 180,000 registered voters were braving frigid weather at the polls in New Hampshire, the tiny state famous for surprise finishes and a fondness for political underdogs.

The latest Reuters/MSNBC/Zogby poll, released today, showed Kerry, a senator from Massachusetts, with a 13-point lead on Dean, the one-time front-runner who insisted he would spring a surprise.

"We are closing the gap and New Hampshire voters I think like the pretty straight talk," Dean told WKBR radio today before visiting polling places in Manchester and Concord. "We balance budgets, we don't promise things we can't deliver and we also say things once in a while that aren't popular."

All of the candidates had relatively light days, visiting polling places in the morning and rallying volunteers to help get out the vote before the last of the state's polls close at 8pm EST (2pm today NZ time).

"We've had huge crowds, lots of excitement and we feel good," North Carolina Sen. John Edwards said during a visit to a polling place to thank campaign volunteers standing outside.

Kerry greeted voters at a local school in Manchester, telling reporters "it's a great feeling" and reminding passersby: "I hope I've got your vote."

A win for Kerry would tag him as the Democratic front-runner, a title he has resisted since Iowa and one that would likely make him the target of fresh attacks from his rivals in the race and Bush's Republican supporters.

A loss would be devastating for Dean, the former governor of neighbouring Vermont who led New Hampshire polls by more than 20 points little more than a month ago.

New Hampshire's first primary has traditionally been unpredictable, knocking front-runners off stride and some losers out of the race. Independents, the state's largest voting bloc, can participate in either party primary, adding an air of uncertainty to the outcome.

The voting in New Hampshire, coming one week after Iowa's kick-off caucuses, ends the first phase of intensive, person-to-person campaigning before the race broadens out across the country next Tuesday with contests in seven states, where candidates switch their emphasis from building momentum to rounding up the delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.

New Hampshire will send 22 pledged delegates to the Democratic convention this summer, fewer than all but one of the seven states with contests on Feb. 3.

Polls indicated three other candidates -- Edwards, retired Gen. Wesley Clark and Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut -- were in a tight struggle for third place.

All three have aimed for a strong enough showing in New Hampshire to propel them to breakthrough wins next week, but the fifth-place finisher might find both money and enthusiasm running dry.

Most of the candidates will pull out of New Hampshire for the next round of states on Tuesday night or early Wednesday.

Kerry will head to Missouri on Wednesday, the biggest Feb. 3 prize with 74 pledged delegates. Dean will return to his home in Burlington, Vermont, for a day before heading to South Carolina on Thursday to campaign and participate in a debate.

Edwards will hit both South Carolina, the first primary in the South and a must-win state for him, and Missouri on Wednesday. Clark travels to South Carolina and Lieberman to Delaware, the smallest of the February 3 states with 15 pledged delegates.

Bush also is on the ballot in New Hampshire in a Republican primary in which he faces no major opposition.

- REUTERS