Question For Pollsters: What Happened?
Candidates React To Wins, Plan Ahead
POSTED: 12:05 pm EST January 9,
2008
UPDATED: 12:38 pm EST January 9,
2008
BOSTON -- With little time to savor their victories in New Hampshire, presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John McCain are now looking at the races ahead and the other presidential candidates are all tweaking their campaigns as well.One question everyone is asking is: What happened to the poll predictions? The day before the primary, polls showed Clinton losing to Barack Obama by a wide margin.NewsCenter 5's Gail Huff reported that some of the candidates, including Obama, are trying to figure out what didn't work with their campaigns so they can adjust going forward."Most college students are back in school yet, that might have had an impact. There's no doubt that Sen. Clinton ran well among women here in New Hampshire," Obama said on a morning news show.Just how well she did was a shock to pundits, pollsters and politicians who saw her make a dramatic comeback victory. Now, analysts are trying to figure out what made voters change their minds. Was it her husband, former president Bill Clinton's harsh words on the eve of the election?He criticized Obama's campaign rhetoric, saying at a rally, "Give me a break. This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen. The idea that one of these campaigns is positive and one is negative, when I know the reverse is true and I have seen it and I have been blistered by it for months, is a little tough to take."Others point to the emotional, teary-eyed comment Hillary Clinton made to a voter Monday or the Saturday night debate where some felt it appeared the men ganged up on her.As for Clinton, back in New York, she said her victory in the Granite State gave her a sense of deja vu."It's the same way I felt in '92 in New Hampshire where, at that time it was my husband. He'd been dropping in the polls and everybody was basically saying, 'OK, it's over,'" Clinton said.Obama is now setting his sights on South Carolina and Nevada, where he won a key endorsement from a local Service Employees International Union, comprised of more than 17,000 county and health care workers. That's a blow to John Edwards who had worked hard for that endorsement.Although Edwards came in a distant third in New Hampshire, he said he has high hopes for South Carolina where he was born."Two races down, 48 states left to go," he told supporters.Republican Sen. John McCain has already scheduled events in Michigan, which he won in 2000. It is, however, the home state of his chief rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who came in second in New Hampshire. Not to worry, says McCain."The Mac is back is our phrase. I'm feeling very good and I'm very grateful to the people of New Hampshire. Now, as you know, we're on to another state," he said.With only 11 percent of the vote, Iowa caucus winner Mike Huckabee is planning events in South Carolina and has an appearance scheduled for the the Comedy Central Colbert Report.
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