White House candidates have fanned out across the United States in their bid to secure presidential nominations from their parties.
Democrat Barack Obama yesterday bounced back from a surprise loss to Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire to grab a coveted union endorsement.
Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain is greeted by supporters as he arrives for a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan
Ms Clinton's narrow upset of Mr Obama in New Hampshire on Tuesday set up a tough and possibly lengthy Democratic nominating battle that heads to Nevada and South Carolina and on to February 5th "Super Tuesday" contests in 22 states.
Republican John McCain soared into the next Republican battleground of Michigan with fresh momentum from his New Hampshire win, hoping to score a knockout punch on Tuesday against rival Mitt Romney.
The state-by-state race to pick candidates for the November election to succeed President George W. Bush shifted from the intimate, face-to-face politics of Iowa and New Hampshire to a wider national campaign driven by big-money television ads and cross-country plane trips.
Mr Obama, the Illinois senator, won the backing of the Culinary Workers Union in Nevada, a major force in a state that holds the next Democratic contest on January 19th. The union's 60,000 members, many of them Hispanic, service the famed hotels and casinos on the Las Vegas strip.
He spent the day in New York and Boston raising money and held a rally in New Jersey, where an overflow crowd of more than 3,000 packed in a college gymnasium. "My voice is a little hoarse, my eyes are a little bleary, my back is a little sore, but my spirit is strong," Mr Obama told cheering supporters.
The loss in New Hampshire "reminds us that change is always met by resistance from the status quo," he said, echoing a line aimed at Ms Clinton by rival John Edwards in a debate on Saturday.
Terry McAuliffe, Ms Clinton's national campaign chairman, said the New York senator and former first lady's New Hampshire win spurred a rush of more than $1 million in donations in one day and pumped up the candidate and her supporters.
After his fourth-place finish in the Democratic primary, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has decided to drop his presidential bid and was expected to make a formal announcement today, US media reported.
The 71-year-old Mr McCain's political rebirth also gave his once-struggling campaign new life and put him in the midst of a wild scramble for the Republican nomination that has produced no clear favourite.
"This state can again play a key role. We won here in 2000 and we will win again in 2008," Mr McCain, whose presidential bid collapsed in 2000 shortly after his Michigan win, told an airport rally in Grand Rapids.
Michigan shaped up as a must-win for Mr Romney (60), the former Massachusetts governor, who spent heavily in Iowa and New Hampshire but finished second in both states. His campaign suspended advertising in South Carolina and Florida to concentrate on Michigan.