US Election:With new polls showing a surge in support for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and Republican John McCain, former frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney are fighting for survival in tomorrow's New Hampshire primaries, writes Denis Staunton, in New Hampshire.
At a Republican debate in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Saturday, Romney became the target for attacks from all five other leading Republican candidates, with McCain poking fun at the former Massachusetts governor's flip-flopping on issues ranging from abortion to immigration.
When Romney declared that he was best place to challenge Democratic front-runner Obama in a general election as an agent of change, McCain shot back: "Governor Romney, we disagree on a lot of issues, but you are the candidate of change."
Romney, who has run attack adverts against McCain, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, the surprise Republican winner in Iowa, reaped a whirlwind of retaliation at Saturday's debate.
When it was over, as most of the candidates shook hands and chatted, Romney was left standing alone in the middle of the stage.
Among the Democrats, Hillary Clinton started her fightback against Barack Obama, only to walk into an ambush as John Edwards joined the Iowa caucus winner in rounding on her.
Outlining her case against Obama as an inconsistent legislator who talks well but achieves little, Clinton started by complaining that the Illinois senator had unfairly criticised Edwards.
Instead of joining in the attack on the new frontrunner, Edwards turned on Clinton, claiming that he and Obama were the only real agents of change in the race.
"Any time you speak out powerfully for change, the forces of status quo attack," he said.
This was too much for the former first lady, whose eyes widened as she responded, her voice rising as she grew angrier.
"I want to make change, but I've already made change, I will continue to make change, I'm not just running on a promise of change; I'm running on 35 years of change," she said.
Clinton had good moments too, notably when she was asked to explain why voters found her less likable than Obama.
"Well, that hurts my feelings, but I'll try to go on," she said. "He's very likable, I agree with that. But I don't think I'm that bad." Obama responded, perhaps a little ungallantly: "You're likable enough."
Buoyed by his triumph in Iowa and the momentum it has given his campaign, Obama gave his best debate performance yet, remaining calm and in command of policy detail as he made his case for a new kind of politics that transcends partisan division.
Throughout the weekend, Obama drew crowds of thousands to venues across New Hampshire, sometimes turning hundreds of people away from his rallies.
Clinton is campaigning hard and her supporters still believe they can pull off a victory tomorrow, although the campaign is careful to insist that no single primary is essential to winning the nomination. Clinton can afford to lose New Hampshire but only if she comes a fairly close second, with a margin of less than 5 per cent between her and Obama.
Her best hope after that is that, in the weeks before February 5th, when more than 20 states hold primaries, voters will start to have doubts about Obama and will determine that they need a more experienced candidate.
If Obama comes out on top tomorrow, as expected, he can look forward to another victory in South Carolina, where some 50 per cent of the Democratic primary electorate is African-American.
A succession of big wins could make him, rather than Clinton, the inevitable Democratic nominee.
On the Republican side, a defeat for Romney tomorrow will probably prove fatal to his campaign and a victory for McCain would propel the veteran senator back into contention.
Huckabee is hoping to take third place in New Hampshire, ahead of Rudy Giuliani and to move on to South Carolina next week, where he has a better chance of winning.
Giuliani is sitting out all the early contests, hoping to win Florida at the end of this month before sweeping the big states that vote on February 5th.