Hillary Clinton, Democratic senator from New York, won the New Hampshire primary Tuesday night by two percentage points after polls and pundits for days predicted a double-digit loss to Illinois Sen. Barack Obama.
In the Republican contest, 71-year-old Arizona Sen. John McCain, whose campaign was bankrupt and presumed dead last summer, defeated former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by five percentage points.

Exit polls attributed Clinton’s victory to a large increase in votes from women, who favored Obama five days earlier in the Iowa caucus. McCain’s victory came from both Independents and a majority of all Republicans except those who consider themselves “very conservative,” according to MSNBC exit polls.
At the University, College Democrats and College Republicans did not gather publicly to watch returns. Democrats plan to do that for the 22-state primary on Feb. 5. But representatives from both groups seemed prepared for what is now likely to be a prolonged primary season.
“It’s going to be a marathon and not a sprint,” said Braden Wolf, secretary of College Democrats. “There’s going to be no coronation any time soon.”
Wolf said he supports Clinton, though the group does not endorse any candidate.
“As a whole we’re just really excited about the opportunity to vote for any of the candidates, frankly,” he said.
“I think the fact that you get twice as many voters in the Democratic primary as the Republican primary shows that the country wants change. The Democratic voters as a whole are coming out in higher numbers,” he said.
Many political observers have attributed higher Democratic turnout to a more energized electorate. College Republican and Emerald columnist Nik Antovich said he is not feeling particularly optimistic about his party’s chances next November.
“My vote isn’t necessarily for someone, it’s against everyone else,” he said.
Antovich said he wasn’t surprised when former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee won the Iowa caucus last week, nor was he “too surprised” to see McCain win in New Hampshire, since he carried the state in 2000 against then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush.
“It was breakneck and it could go either way,” Antovich said of the contest between Romney and McCain in New Hampshire.
Like the Democrats, the College Republicans group has no official pick for the nomination. Antovich favors Romney, citing his experience in the private sector. Antovich said he does not support McCain because McCain sponsored immigration reform legislation last summer that included a path to citizenship for undocumented workers. Antovich considered the plan to be amnesty.
But it was not only the intent of the legislation that Antovich said cost McCain the trust of some Republicans; It was also that McCain’s co-sponsor was a Democrat particularly scorned by the Republican base – Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts.
“(Romney) is outside of Washington,” Antovich said. “He doesn’t have any sort of responsibility to sign a bill in a certain way to help his buddies.”
Antovich predicted the Republican race comes down to three men: Romney, Huckabee and McCain. And he said Romney will take most of the remaining contests and likely be the party’s nominee.
“I’ll support any Republican as the nominee. There’s a huge difference between Republicans and Democrats at this time,” Antovich said.
Democrat Wolf also said he would get behind his party’s eventual candidate.
“I support Hillary but anyone who comes out as the nominee I’m fully behind,” he said. “I think everyone in the organization feels the same way.”
Republicans will vote next in Michigan on Jan. 15; Democrats in Nevada Jan. 19.
[email protected]