20% of Dems undecided on Sunday...

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?articleId=91111b06-18b4-4c7b-8236-2fe12c70477b&headline=The%20Democrats:%20As%20usual,%20the%20undecideds%20are%20the%20key

The Democrats: As usual, the undecideds are the key

By TOM FAHEY
State House Bureau Chief
29 minutes ago


Early results and exit polls were closely scrutinized by candidates, establishment Democrats, independent voters and political pundits for a sign of what the night would bring.

Candidates spent the day trying to lock up the last group of undecided voters. Roughly 20 percent of those expecting to vote in the Democratic primary still hadn’t yet made up their minds on Sunday, according to the latest tracking poll by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.

Candidates worked hard to lock up a few remaining undecideds yesterday. Clinton and Obama delivered coffee to supporters at polls and campaign offices at the break of dawn and Edwards put the wraps on a 36-hour marathon of final campaign stops.

Each vied to be seen as the candidate of change. Clinton, 60, argued that her years of experience working on issues important to her mean she is the best equipped to make change happen.

“Change is not something you hope for. It’s something you work for,” she said.Obama, 46, painted himself as the outsider untainted by decades in Washington, bringing hope, not cynicsm to the process. He told a rally in Iowa after his victory, “you can do what the cynics said could not be done.”

Edwards, 54, said he is the best able to change the status quo, saying he has not taken money from special interest groups in any of his campaigns.

Obama, who surprised the nation by his 8 percent margin of victory in Iowa, looked for a repeat performance that could propel him to the nomination.

Clinton, needed to stay close to Obama if she did not win the primary. In Iowa, she finished third, a few tenths of a percent behind Edwards. That lowered expectations for her candidacy in New Hamopshire to the point where coming in a close second will allow her to put a positive spin on the losing performance.

In Edwards’ case, a repeat of his Iowa performance would give new strength to his campaign. Polling numbers in the past week showed a double-digit gap he needed to close before he can catch Clinton here.

Clinton had attracted the support of the Democratic establishment. Among those in her camp were former state party chair Kathy Sullivan among her leading supporters, Dr. Susan Lynch, wife of Gov. John Lynch, and attorney William Shaheen, husband of former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen, Senate President Sylvia Larsen and Speaker of the House Terie Norelli.

Obama drew the support of freshmen congressman Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter, and former Health and Human Services Commissioner Ned Helms.