Stopping in the eye-care section of the Hollis (N.H.) Pharmacy, surrounded by supporters, McCain recalled his early pressure on the Bush administration to put more troops in Iraq as one example of a career devoted to changing Washington's ways.

"I'm most proud of the change I brought about in Iraq that saved American lives," McCain said. "No one else was ready to make that kind of reform. I'm proud to stand here as a person who has reformed and reformed and reformed."

Clinton hoped to become her family's newest "Comeback Kid" in a state that revived Bill Clinton's run for the Democratic nomination in 1992.

She promised a rally at the Nashua airport that she would answer as many questions as possible about her candidacy in the short run to the primary, and addressed several about her electability after her Iowa defeat.

"Anyone we nominate will be thrown into that blazing inferno of a general election," she said. "I've been through the fires, and it makes it far less likely they are going to be able to do to me what they intend to do to whomever we nominate." She was traveling through the state in a lavishly painted campaign bus bearing her latest slogan: "Big Challenges, Real Solutions — Time to Pick a President."

Fond words about grass-roots politicking with Iowans and their caucus meetings seemed distant, just a day after the event, as she cast the New Hampshire primary Tuesday as a truer expression of democracy.

"This is a primary election," she said. "You're not disenfranchised if you work at night. You actually can come out and vote. You're not disenfranchised if you're not in the state. You can actually send in an absentee ballot. So this is going to be a much more representative electorate because we've got people who are going to be able to express opinions in the way we run elections in America."

Huckabee, on the morning talk shows, pitched his tax plan to anti-tax New Hampshire Republicans, and asserted his campaign is about much more than the Christian conservatives who lifted him in Iowa. "What we're seeing is that this campaign is not just about people who have religious fervor," he said. "It's about people who love America, but want it to be better and believe that change is necessary and it's not going to happen from within Washington."

Iowa's results tightened the Democratic field — Sens. Joe Biden and Christopher Dodd dropped out shortly after the outcome was clear Thursday night. John Edwards mounted an energetic, populist campaign only to see himself repeat his 2004 second place finish in Iowa. He vowed to continue, but he trails Obama and Clinton in polls and in money. Clinton sank to third.

Edwards portrayed the Democratic race as one between Obama and him.