A day after the New Hampshire primary recast the presidential race, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Wednesday that the candidates’ debate on Saturday was a turning point in her surprising victory over Senator Barack Obama, while Mr. Obama sought to remain upbeat and traveled to New York on a fund-raising mission.
On the Republican side, Senator John McCain, fresh off his own comeback victory over former Gov. Mitt Romney, jetted off to Michigan, where in next Tuesday’s primary he will attempt to overcome Mr. Romney’s natural advantage in the state of his birth.
The results from Tuesday night breathed new life into the Clinton and McCain campaigns less than a week after the two candidates placed third and fourth respectively in the Iowa caucuses. The results left the Republican field in a muddled state with no clear front-runner, and seemed to foretell a long and intense competition on the Democratic side between Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama through the Super Tuesday primaries on Feb. 5.
Despite his surprising setback in New Hampshire, Mr. Obama got a bit of good news Wednesday, when he learned that Unite Here, a union representing nearly a half million laundry, apparel and hotel workers, would endorse his candidacy. The union is expected to make the announcement later in the day at its New York headquarters and in Las Vegas, where it has a local, Culinary Local 226, representing more than 60,000 casino, hotel and restaurant workers, that is by far the largest and most politically potent union in Nevada.
Unite Here leaders hope their endorsement will help put Mr. Obama over the top in the Nevada caucuses on Jan. 19, and give him new momentum.
But despite the endorsement, much of the attention Wednesday remained on Mrs. Clinton and her victory in New Hampshire, which defied the predictions of pollsters, who only two days before the election had declared a double-digit lead for Mr. Obama.
In an interview on NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday morning, Mrs. Clinton said that things changed for her after the debate on Saturday. “It was the first time that the leading candidates actually were asked some very pointed questions about what we stand for, what we’ve done to help other people, what our accomplishments are and what we want to do for the future,” she said.
Mr. Obama struck a positive note Wednesday morning on the “Today” show, calling Mrs. Clinton a “very effective campaigner” and congratulating her “for a terrific race.” But he welcomed, indeed seemed to relish, Mrs. Clinton’s suggestion that voters take a closer look at his record and positions.
Looking ahead to the intense round of primary contests coming up, Mr. Obama added, “Right now we’re in a very close contest that’ll probably go all the way through February fifth, as the voters lift the hood and kick the tires and make an assessment who’s going to really fight for them and their families.”
This Notebook has interesting articles relating to the 2008 Elections.
