GLEN JOHNSON
CONCORD, New Hampshire

The New Hampshire primaries turned into a night of remarkable comebacks for Senators John McCain and Hillary Clinton.

Senator McCain won the Republican vote and climbed back into contention for the US presidential nomination.

Mrs Clinton, who had been eight points behind Senator Barack Obama in final polls for the Democratic race, raced back into contention in the vote.

Mr McCain rode a wave of support from independent voters to defeat former Governor Mitt Romney of the neighbouring state of Massachusetts.

"We showed the people of this country what a real comeback looks like," Mr McCain said.

By tradition, the primary in the north-eastern state, the first on the political calendar, has the power to propel winners into the rush of primaries that follow and to send the losers home for good.

Mrs Clinton, who finished third in Iowa and had been widely written off in New Hampshire, mounted an unexpectedly stiff challenge to Mr Obama in the first large-scale primary of the presidential campaign.

With votes counted from 24% of the state's precincts, she had 40% to 34% for Mr Obama, who is seeking to become the first black US president. Former Senator John Edwards had 17%.

Mr McCain had 37% of the Republican vote; Mr Romney had 28%.

The voting pattern reflected a very late swing for Mrs Clinton following her celebrated tearful moment in the campaigning earlier this week and was being seen as a measure of the fact that, despite Mr Obama's attractive message of change, Mrs Clinton has the strategy and ability to close the gap.

The economy and the war in Iraq were the top issues in both party primaries, according to interviews with voters leaving their polling places.

American politics were shaken up by last week's Iowa caucuses, where Mr Obama defeated Mrs Clinton and Mr Romney lost to Mike Huckabee, a Baptist preacher turned politician.

Mr Obama, a first-term senator and son of a Kenyan father, has brushed aside complaints that he is too inexperienced to lead the US, campaigning on a message of hope and change in the aftermath of George W Bush's presidency.

His appeal in Iowa and New Hampshire, both overwhelmingly white states, has eased doubts about whether America was ready to elect a black president.

Mrs Clinton, wife of former President Bill Clinton and a senator, has campaigned on her experience and, until a few weeks ago, seemed to have a lock on the nomination.

However, she finished third in Iowa, and fell to second in pre-election New Hampshire polls. Nationally, she is deadlocked with Mr Obama.

Interviews with voters leaving their polling places showed she was winning readily among registered Democrats, while Mr Obama led her by an even larger margin among independents.

The early results in New Hampshire surprised even her own inner circle.

In the hours leading up to the poll closing, her closest advisers had appeared to be bracing for a second defeat at the hands of Obama.

Officials said her aides were considering whether effectively to concede the next two contests, caucuses in Nevada on January 19 and a South Carolina primary a week later, and instead try to regroup in time for a 22-state round of contests on February 5.

Neither of the two Republicans leading in the latest national Gallup poll were top contenders in New Hampshire. Huckabee won in Iowa largely on the strength of the evangelical Christian vote, which is less of a factor in New Hampshire.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is counting on presumed success in later states to give him momentum going into the February 5 primaries.

Mr Huckabee finished third in New Hampshire with 12%; Mr Giuliani was fourth with 9%.

McCain, a maverick, independent-minded senator and a Vietnam War hero, was saw his standing fall last year partly because he was seen as too liberal on immigration.

While other candidates faltered, he has surged in New Hampshire, where he defeated Bush in the 2000 primary. His national standing also has been helped by his advocacy of sending more US troops to Iraq.