Senator John McCain and the Vice-President, Mr Al Gore, returned to the campaign trail yesterday, claiming momentum in their presidential attempts after winning their contests in the New Hampshire primary.
In a stunning upset, Mr McCain demonstrated that Governor George W. Bush, flush with campaign cash and blessed by the Republican establishment, was far from invincible.
Mr McCain won 49 per cent of the Republican vote, drawing heavily on New Hampshire's anti-establishment independents, while Mr Bush took 31 per cent in the first primary vote of the 2000 presidential campaign.
Among Democrats, Mr Gore was credited with 52 per cent against 48 per cent for Mr Bill Bradley, a former senator and basketball star.
"I can feel momentum in a campaign," Mr McCain told ABC yesterday after arriving in South Carolina, where the next primary is set for February 19th.
"We're coming up in the polls here in South Carolina and the money is coming in."
Mr Gore, stopping in New York on his way back to Washington, called the New Hampshire vote "a sweet victory".
"We had a good, solid five-point win and won in every single demographic category," he said.
The McCain victory stunned the Bush camp, but the Texas governor blamed the setback on the independent-minded voters of New Hampshire who tend to favour underdogs.
Going into the primary, the son of the former president, Mr George Bush, enjoyed a lead in nationwide polls and the support of key Republican figures.
Mr Bush stressed that Mr McCain had foregone a national campaign to win the New Hampshire primary, and said, "I intend to go through all 50 states."
With 98 per cent of precincts having reported in the Republican contest, unofficial returns gave Mr McCain 49 per cent of the vote, with 31 per cent for Mr Bush, 13 per cent to the publishing magnate, Mr Steve Forbes, six per cent to Mr Alan Keyes and one per cent to the conservative activist, Mr Gary Bauer, according to television reports.
Although New Hampshire delivers just a handful of delegates to the parties' nominating conventions this summer, it carries heavy weight as the first-in-the nation primary state.
But Mr Bush's campaign was already planning for revenge in the pivotal southern state of South Carolina.
"We're going to hit the ground running and he's got a lot of ground to make up," a Bush spokeswoman said as the entourage left for South Carolina, where polls show Mr Bush well ahead.
Mr Bradley, campaigning in Hartford, Connecticut, sought to put a positive spin on the New Hampshire outcome.
There was no question of him now folding his tent and allowing Mr Gore to take the nomination unchallenged, he stressed.
"Last night was the closest New Hampshire primary in history," he said. "We came from about 17 (percentage points) back in the last eight days and made a tremendous turnaround, and I think we leave New Hampshire stronger and better prepared for what's ahead."
Meanwhile, Mr Gore interrupted his presidential campaign yesterday for a Senate vote that never came because Republicans would not give him a chance to polish his abortion rights credentials.
Fresh from New Hampshire, where his abortion stand became an issue, Mr Gore presided over the Senate as it passed an amendment to make punishing perpetrators of abortion clinic violence easier.
While Democrats said the vote appeared 50-50 late on Tuesday and might require the vice president's tie-breaking vote, it passed 80-17. A number of Republicans, making sure Mr Gore would not cast the winning vote, voted for the measure.
Republicans dismissed Mr Gore's appearance as a grandstand play designed to show his support for abortion rights, which was questioned by his only Democratic rival for president, Mr Bradley.
Senate Democrats turned his appearance at the Capitol into a campaign rally.
"If you have any doubts about Al Gore's commitment to women, to their families, to their health, to their right to choose, today ought to prove it," Senator Barbara Boxer of California said at a Democratic rally before the vote.
An Internet site released early exit polls on the New Hampshire primary, giving Web surfers results before the voting ended despite a pact among media to withhold the information.
The major US television networks for years have abided by a voluntary agreement to keep their exit polls under wraps until all votes are cast to avoid influencing the outcome.