Clinton and McCain the comeback kids

Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain received much-needed boosts from New Hampshire Tuesday.

Clinton, coming off a disappointing third-place finish in Iowa, rebounded to overcome rival Sen. Barack Obama in the state’s Democratic primary.

Supporters at her headquarters chanted “comeback kid” as the results came in.

Clinton trailed Obama by 9 points in recent polls.

On the Republican side, McCain easily won his party’s primary.

The results mark a resurgence for the Arizona senator, whose campaign was all but written off this summer.

In Iowa, Clinton lost out to Obama among women 35 percent to 30 percent. In New Hampshire, however, 45 percent of female Democratic primary voters picked Clinton, compared to 36 percent who went for Obama.

Older voters also overwhelmingly outnumbered younger voters, a proportion that benefited Clinton. Sixty-seven percent of Democratic primary voters were over the age of 40, and they were breaking heavily for Clinton over Obama.

McCain overcame former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney to seal the win in New Hampshire with 37 percent of the vote.

With 95 percent of precincts counted, Clinton had 39 percent of the vote to Iowa caucus winner Obama’s 37 percent. Edwards had 17 percent. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson had 5 percent, and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich had 1 percent.

With 95 percent of Republican precincts reporting, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani had 9 percent and Texas Rep. Ron Paul had 8 percent. Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson received 1 percent of the vote.

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch predicted a record turnout for the first-in-the-nation presidential primary. He said he expected half a million people to vote.

The leading presidential hopefuls are expected to head next to South Carolina, another key state in the race to the White House.

-adapted from CNN.com