Presidential Elections 2008

The presidential prospects of Mike Huckabee are rising too fast for his campaign to keep up. Word of the former Arkansas governor's victory in the Iowa caucuses Thursday night came so quickly that his staff seemed unprepared. The hotel ballroom in this city's East Village wasn't yet a quarter full, and the blue-and-white "I Like Mike" backdrop behind the podium had not been erected. Neither the candidate nor his family had reached the hotel.

When bartender Jessica Nelson was offered the chance to work overtime during the final weeks of caucus season here at the downtown Marriott Hotel, she eagerly canceled her holiday plans. These are boom times in the Corn State: The tips she's earned from serving high-end martinis and bottles of microbrewed beers over the last couple of weeks are at least double her normal take -- far better than even a New Year's Eve party.

Don't forget Wyoming. It's been overlooked in the hoopla surrounding Thursday's Iowa caucuses and next week's New Hampshire primary, but Wyoming Republicans will caucus on Saturday and choose delegates to the national convention in September. Candidates have paid little attention to the state, though. Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, Duncan Hunter and Ron Paul have passed through since September. Mike Huckabee, Rudolph W. Giuliani and John McCain have not.

Hillary Rodham Clinton may have lost to Barack Obama in the race for Iowa, but she exacted her revenge in the race out of Iowa. In the wee hours of Friday morning, Clinton's police-escorted motorcade, zipping along the dark roads between downtown Des Moines and the airport, arrived mere seconds before Obama's police-escorted motorcade at the Signature Aviation terminal.

Pay no attention to that third-place finish in Iowa. The real contest starts now. That was the word from Hillary Rodham Clinton after she landed in New Hampshire early Friday and immediately set to work reviving her yearlong presidential campaign. Leading a rally in a chilly airplane hangar in Nashua, and following up with a news conference at a coffee shop here, the New York senator insisted she remained the most formidable candidate.

Dismissing a claim that Norman Hsu's right to a speedy trial had been violated because California authorities didn't fully pursue him after he fled from justice 16 years ago, a San Mateo County judge on Friday sentenced the former Democratic fundraiser to three years in prison for fraud. Hsu faces a number of other legal troubles. Last month a federal grand jury in New York indicted Hsu, 56, on charges of operating a large new Ponzi scheme and making illegal campaign contributions to Sen.

He is no rock star, but Mike Huckabee took pains to prove otherwise on Friday with his electric-bass rendition of "Twist and Shout" in a New Hampshire rock band. A day after his improbable victory in the Iowa caucuses, Huckabee used his guest stint with the band Mama Kicks to show New Hampshire that he is no typical Republican running for president. The rock 'n' roll rally was a bit of calculated mischief by the former governor of Arkansas.

Gray-haired veterans in narrow VFW caps dotted the crowds, pledging their undying allegiance. Independent voters quibbled and complained about concerns on some policy details, then said they would sign on, all the same. Reporters fought for the few seats at bull sessions in the back cabin of the "Straight-Talk Express." Sen.

It was anyone's guess what would win out on the campaign trail Friday with Barack Obama -- glee, fatigue or a growing pugnacity. There he was, buoyant but baggy-eyed, fresh from a resounding victory in Iowa's Democratic caucuses, standing in a drafty airplane hangar here and rallying a whole new set of troops. "My throat's still a little torn up, but my spirits are high because last night the American people began down the road to change," he said.

Ann Owen, a seventh-grader from West Branch, Iowa, had a tough initiation when she volunteered for the first time to work a phone bank at her local Barack Obama campaign office. Iowans -- even the nicest ones -- suffer from political call burnout as the caucuses approach. "I got a lot of hang-ups at first," said Ann, who was inviting folks to see Michelle Obama, the candidate's wife. "The rejection didn't feel too good. My eyes started watering.