Presidential Candidates

John Edwards launched a new television spot and a final, marathon bus tour through this state Sunday, acknowledging he was the underdog but insisting he would not give up a Democratic presidential contest that increasingly centered on Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Two days before the New Hampshire primary that could make or break his White House candidacy, a combative Mitt Romney quarreled with rivals John McCain and Mike Huckabee over taxes, crime and job experience in a testy Republican debate that exposed growing animosity among the candidates. Romney's attacks set off a cascade of counter-assaults on the former Massachusetts governor, who has placed enormous stakes on winning here but has slid behind McCain in the polls.

Volunteers for Barack Obama's presidential campaign fanned out into black neighborhoods over the weekend with new instructions: Tell undecided voters that Obama "proved the cynics wrong in the Iowa caucuses." The message about Obama's decisive Iowa victory Thursday is familiar to those who have heard his theme of transcending old-style politics.

As New Hampshire throws the presidential contest toward California and the other Feb. 5 contest states, the major candidates are working furiously to sew up the first of those to cast ballots -- the mail-in voters, who started receiving their ballots Monday. At least half of California's votes will be by mail in the presidential primary, analysts believe, and their heft is one of several factors dictating the campaigns' strategies here.

No letup in the last hours After Iowa, change is in the air in New Hampshire. In the Democratic primary, Barack Obama's emphasis on change has suddenly made him the candidate to beat. On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee has a tall order in replicating his win, but this has forced Mitt Romney to alter his tactics and helped revive John McCain's chances.

No letup in the last hours After Iowa, change is in the air in New Hampshire. In the Democratic primary, Barack Obama's emphasis on change has suddenly made him the candidate to beat. On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee has a tall order in replicating his win, but this has forced Mitt Romney to alter his tactics and helped revive John McCain's chances.

No letup in the last hours After Iowa, change is in the air in New Hampshire. In the Democratic primary, Barack Obama's emphasis on change has suddenly made him the candidate to beat. On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee has a tall order in replicating his win, but this has forced Mitt Romney to alter his tactics and helped revive John McCain's chances.

No letup in the last hours After Iowa, change is in the air in New Hampshire. In the Democratic primary, Barack Obama's emphasis on change has suddenly made him the candidate to beat. On the Republican side, Mike Huckabee has a tall order in replicating his win, but this has forced Mitt Romney to alter his tactics and helped revive John McCain's chances.

Heather and Andy Collins, both independent voters, are a house divided -- torn between Sens. Barack Obama, the Illinois Democrat, and John McCain, the Arizona Republican. "Those are the two candidates we feel can work [with both parties] and get things done," said Andy Collins, a carpenter. The couple said each of them could vote for either Obama or McCain -- but after watching Obama on television and hearing McCain speak in the town square on Monday, they may end up splitting the difference.

As the Mike Huckabee campaign prepared to air a television advertisement attacking Mitt Romney in the last days before the Iowa caucuses, one crucial player argued strenuously against the spot. Her name was Janet Huckabee. Mike Huckabee would eventually announce at a news conference that he was overruling most of his advisors and would not air the ad. He described this as an act of conscience, but he was also bowing to the wishes of his wife of 33 years.