N.H. voters, candidates turn out amid warm weather

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Voters as well as candidates are showing up at polling places across New Hampshire for the nation’s first presidential primary.

Spring-like weather may be helping to boost the turnout.

John McCain is jokingly predicting a landslide victory over his Republican rivals, after outpolling rivals in two tiny northern hamlets, which cast the first 46 ballots of the primary season at midnight,

On the Democratic side, Barack Obama is hoping to follow up his victory in the Iowa caucuses with a convincing win over Hillary Rodham Clinton. He says Americans are ready to “cast aside
cynicism.”

For her part, Clinton is promising a daylong blitz to get her supporters out. But former President Bill Clinton is trying to lower expectations for his wife, saying the unusually short stretch between Iowa and New Hampshire presented little chance to counter
Obama’s momentum.

Late polls found Obama with a clear advantage over Clinton. John Edwards trailed both, with Bill Richardson in back.

Surveys show a closer race on the Republican side, with McCain and Mitt Romney in a statistical tie.