By SPA
Manchester, New Hampshire : U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton claimed a come-from-behind victory in New Hampshire’s Democratic primary late Tuesday, edging out her Senate colleague, Barack Obama.
Flanked by her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and daughter Chelsea, the New York senator told supporters she “found her own voice” in the five days since her third-place showing in Iowa, and promised them “we are in it for the long run.”
“Now let’s give America the kind of comeback that New Hampshire has just given me,” she said.
Solid support from registered Democrats and women were crucial, results from exit polls suggest.
With 89 percent of precincts reporting, CNN projected Hillary Clinton the winner of the first-in-the-nation primary with 39 percent of the vote to Obama’s 37.
Meanwhile, U.S. Senator John McCain won the New Hampshire state primary in the race to become the Republican party’s presidential candidate.
In his victory speech Tuesday, McCain made joking reference to a similar speech by Bill Clinton, who coined the term “Comeback Kid” when he did well in New Hampshire as a presidential hopeful.
“I am past the age when I can claim the noun kid … but tonight we sure showed them what a comeback looks like,” he said.