REPUBLICAN presidential hopefuls, the field narrowed by one, east their sights on supporters of Senator Phil Gramm of Texas as they moved on to next Week's New Hampshire contest.
Mr Gramm (53), who campaigned as "Mr Conservative", was widely reported to have decided to pull out of the race after his fifth place showing in the Iowa caucuses on Monday.
"When you run fifth in Iowa, an important state, you would have to be brain dead not to take a look at where you are and what you are doing," he said as he left New Hampshire for Washington.
Mr Gramm's poor showing in the first major race for the Republican nomination came despite one of the best financed, best organised campaigns and an unrelenting pitch to the party's right as an economic and social conservative.
Besides narrowing the field, his withdrawal from the race means that his financial backers and campaign workers as well as the core of his following are up for grabs.
Best positioned to scoop up the political booty were the front runners Senator Bob Dole of Kansas and the television commentator, Mr Pat Buchanan, Mr Gramm's populist rival for the heart of the Republican right.
Championing protectionism and the anti abortion movement, Mr Buchanan upset Mr Gramm in mini contests in Alaska and Louisiana as he built momentum for the important Iowa caucuses, the first real winnower of the Republican nominating process.
"So what happened was, the conservatives in Iowa said, well, there's only one conservative now who can win. " Mr Buchanan said in an interview with PBS television."
Mr Buchanan can now argue that, Mr Gramm out of the a, he is in fact the only issue conservative in the running.
A one time speech writer to Richard Nixon, Mr Buchanan has shaped his campaign with an incendiary mix of themes calculated appeal to the influential Christian right and to white working class Americans threatened by job loss in a global economy.
In the same breath, he attacks abortion, GATT, the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) with Mexico and Canada, illegal immigration and jobs "shipped overseas." He calls for a "cultural war" against liberalism.
Those themes and Mr Buchanan's fiery style have him into second place in New Hampshire despite comparatively meager finances, but the anti corporate tone also has unsettled big business, a major Republican constituency.
That helps Mr Dote, the mainstream candidate with a reputation for political pragmatism.
The Washington Post reported yesterday that early indications were that most of Mr Gramm's key supporters, and possibly the Texas senator himself, would swing behind Mr Dote, who leads the Republican controlled Senate.
Mr Dole (73) has sought to remain above the fray, projecting an image of the experienced leader who alone has the stature to lead his party in the November presidential elections.
He has the largest war chest and a slew of political endorsements, including the popular Republican governor of New Hampshire.
But Mr Dole's aura of invincibility was cracked on Monday by his slender victory in Iowa 26 per cent to 23 per cent for Mr Buchanan.
If Mr Dole falters in New Hampshire, the former Tennessee governor, Mr Lamar Alexander (55), the third place finish in Iowa, is waiting to step in as a fresh faced moderate. Mr Alexander claims that only he stands a chance against President Clinton in November.