McCain back on track as major contender

NASHUA, N.H. -- The chant at John McCain's election night headquarters said it all: "Mac Is Back! Mac Is Back! Mac Is Back!"

Left for dead after a staff shake-up in the summer, McCain retook New Hampshire with tactics he used to beat George W. Bush here eight years ago — re-emerging as a major contender for the Republican nomination.

"Republicans will look around and realize he is the best bet to beat the Democratic nominee," McCain aide Mark McKinnon said.

The Vietnam POW re-boarded his "Straight Talk Express" and banked heavily on the independent-minded voters of New Hampshire to reinvigorate a campaign crippled by a lack of campaign funds. He even guaranteed a victory here as the primary neared.

By contrast, Mitt Romney, the ex-governor of neighboring Massachusetts who stressed his business experience, downplayed expectations hours before the polls closed.

"I know that at the end of the night, almost certainly, I will have received more votes for president than anyone else on the Republican side," added Romney, who finished second in Iowa but took the Wyoming caucuses on Saturday.

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who beat Romney in Iowa, was battling for third place in New Hampshire along with Rudy Giuliani and Ron Paul.

Back from 'purgatory'

McCain won New Hampshire by reviving echoes of his 2000 campaign with a "Mac is back" tour aboard the "Straight Talk Express" campaign bus and more than 100 town hall meetings that often featured colorful exchanges. When an undecided voter told him over the weekend he was in political "purgatory," McCain said: "It's a step up from where I was last summer."

The Arizonan again sought support from political independents who are eligible to vote in either primary in New Hampshire.

In this campaign, however, McCain spent more time discussing his experiences as a Vietnam prisoner of war. He also emphasized his Senate work on national security issues, particularly the Iraq war. He voiced support for last year's troop increase in Iraq, and took credit for influencing that strategy.