On the Democratic side, it was another victory for Vice President Gore. Unlike last week's Iowa caucuses, however, this time the veep just squeaked by, and even though he's up 2-0, the race isn't over. Bradley began to chip away at the veep's lead at the eleventh hour in New Hampshire, right after he adopted a gloves-off stance, and a double-digit lead in the polls dissolved into a slim five-point win. And the ex-senator wasted no time building on the strength of his newfound nastiness. Tuesday night, as the first exit polls revealed that the race was neck-and-neck, Bradley — after shunning Gore's similar challenge earlier — announced he wanted to debate Gore once a week for the rest of the campaign season.
For his part, McCain prepared to stretch the momentum of his victory as far as possible. His camp set up a team of fund-raisers in New Hampshire and began phoning potential supporters across the nation as the poll reports were in. But McCain still trails Bush by a wide margin in most parts of the country. Bush has big-name supporters in virtually every state; McCain doesn't. What's more, in most states, registered independents — who overwhelmingly favored McCain over Bush in New Hampshire — aren't allowed to vote in party primaries. At the same time, Bush is much more popular than McCain among conservatives, and as the fringe candidates (Bauer and Keyes) abandon the campaign trail, Bush will likely absorb their voting blocs. But McCain certainly gets to savor the moment.
Here's how TIME's correspondents in New Hampshire scored the day's events.
Margaret Carlson: I went to McCain's last rally last night in Bedford Town Hall. It was like a state fair, a carnival and Christmas rolled into one. There was so much goodwill. He's been here long enough to get close to people as opposed to just getting the support of power brokers in the state. Unlike Bush, he doesn't have the establishment people like John Sununu.
James Carney: "It's fair to say the Bush people are shocked at the size of McCain's victory. There's a lot of finger-pointing starting already.
"The sheer size of the independent turnout is amazing. McCain and Bradley's performances are indicative of where the country is headed in terms of support for independent candidates.
"Bush's campaign was pretty light on substance and heavy on photo ops. And that obviously didn't work in New Hampshire."
On Bush's campaign appearance Sunday, in which he was joined by several members of his family, including his father, ex-president George Bush: "I don't think the jury's out on whether it had a positive impact at all. It may have even been a negative. The elder Bush had his share of problems in New Hampshire, so there may be a negative memory of that which could have hurt [the younger] Bush."
John F. Dickerson(At the McCain campaign headquarters following the win): "Everybody's obviously thrilled. They thought at best they'd win by 5 or 6 percent. Now they hope this turns into money across the nation and into poll numbers in South Carolina.
"They're surprised, particularly by the fact that he took it by such a margin. The fact that he won in all of the various voting categories blunts the criticism from the Bush campaign that McCain only appeals to moderate Republicans, not true Republicans.
"George Bush called him on his cell phone to congratulate him. There was a main living room at his headquarters and there was the bedroom. And McCain wandered away from his kids in the living room to take the call in the bedroom. Bush said something to the effect of they both ran a good campaign and he hoped that would continue in the future.
"After the win McCain was very focused. He was smiling but not jumping up and down. The rest of his aides were high-fiving and hugging, but McCain was restrained. This was a big win, but he realizes it's still an uphill battle. If he hadn't won here it would be over.
"The reporters I've seen here are happy for him. Largely they're happy because there's a feeling he worked harder than anybody else."
Eric Pooley: "The amazing thing is not just the size of McCain's victory but the depth of it — he whipped Bush among registered Republicans.
"I think that McCain probably wants Forbes to stay in for a while. That way Forbes can compete against Bush in states that McCain doesn't do as well in like Delaware and Michigan. And Forbes has a lot of money, so there's reason to think he'll be around for a while.
"So the big question is, does the size of this victory completely change the dynamic of this race. Bush is still the front-runner — he's got the money and the organization in state after state. You don't want to underestimate the enormity of John McCain's task."
Karen Tumulty: "I was out with Gore today and he was still going full speed ahead. He did a whole series of radio interviews today. Picking up Dunkin' Donuts for campaign staffers, going to a diner. Shaking a lot of hands."