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"We Have A Conversion. Praise The Lord, And Pass The Ballot."

New Hampshire Caucus

Snippets from the trail today as the candidates frantically criss-cross the state one final time, even as New Hampshire voters have already started going to the polls:

HANOVER -- Barack Obama's first event of the day at Dartmouth College in Hanover had some Minor drama after a young woman fainted in the middle of the event. A full nine minutes went by as paramedics and secret service worked on her and eventually took her away on a stretcher, reports NBC/NJ's Aswini Anburajan.

Obama stood on the stage with his arms crossed, and gave the audience periodic updates saying she looked fine and he saw her speaking.

As the young woman was wheeled out, the audience clapped and Obama thanked the EMTs. But just before he started to speak again, Larry David who had joined Obama on the stump shouted out, "Sinatra had that effect on people."

Obama acknowledged David's comment, but no one in the audience laughed. David later said he was trying to relive the tension in the room.

CONCORD -- During a visit to the local Dunkin Donuts this morning, Hillary Clinton chatted with photographer Doug Mills about "emblematic" pictures of her husband in '92 coming into or out of donut shops across New Hampshire.

A woman gave the senator a hug and said, "Hang in there." Clinton responded: "I will," to which the woman added, "Don't get discouraged," reports NBC/NJ's Athena Jones.

Hillary greeted a woman and child outside and signed a man's Hillary sign. She told him to "Get everybody out to vote today ok?"

DOVER -- Mike Huckabee stopped by to greet supporters and voters in Dover, many of whom had been following the Governor from stop to stop since this morning in Manchester. He had a long conversation outside the polling place with a woman about health insurance and the insurance crisis in the country. At the end the woman said that Huckabee had answered her question and won her vote, reports NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy.

"We have a conversion," Huckabee said. "Praise the lord and pass the ballot."

SEABROOK -- Bill Clinton said this morning that New Hampshire did itself a disservice by setting its primary date so close to the Iowa caucuses. He also hinted that Hillary Clinton would make a much better Democratic standard bearer should John McCain win the Republican nomination, reports NBC/NJ's Mike Memoli.

Battling a head cold, Clinton stopped at three polling locations this morning, asking voters to support her and taking pictures and signing autographs. Most voters didn't expect to see the former president. "I've been getting a very good response," Clinton said. "They're saying that … they made up their mind in the last two days and they're going to vote for Hillary."

Those late deciders are key, he feels, because the shorter five-day campaign here made the Iowa result disproportionately more influential. "It's just almost impossible to vote five days after Iowa without being unduly influenced by the media coverage," he said. "That colored the polls … for two days, and then we've had a three day election. But New Hampshire deserved more. And I think that the people that set your date should give you more time between now and Iowa."

MANCHESTER -- An hour before Rudy Giuliani arrived at the William B. Cashin Senior Activity Center, the place was hopping. Rows of women (and a couple men) were line dancing to "I'm Too Sexy" - slowly.

But an hour later, many of them had left. And Giuliani took questions in front of several empty lunch tables as part of his last-minute appeal for New Hampshire, reports NBC/NJ's Matthew Berger.

Volunteers from the AARP led the questioning on healthcare, gas prices and Social Security. But the lack of interest in Giuliani's candidacy here was palpable.

1 Comments

Obama's event at Dartmouth was only two thirds full while Hillary drew around 4,000 to her final rally last night.