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Posted: January 7, 2008 3:45 PM
Obama Aims to Ride Iowa Wave into New Hampshire
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Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., continues to surge in New Hampshire polls on the heels of his convincing win in the Iowa caucuses last week.

A new poll by the Marist College Institute of Public Opinion released Monday shows Obama with an eight point lead over rival Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., 36 percent to 28 percent, just one day before Granite State voters head to the polls for their Tuesday primary. Other recent polls have showed similar results.

In his last full day of campaigning before the primary, Obama hit the stump in four New Hampshire towns. In Claremont Monday morning, he told the crowd not to take his Iowa victory for granted.

“I know we had a nice boost over the last couple of days,” Obama said. “But elections are funny things. You actually have to wait until people have voted and counted the votes before you know what’s happening.”

Obama is also hoping his performance at Saturday night’s Facebook/ABC News/WMUR debate will boost his chances for a strong finish in New Hampshire. During the debate, Obama went on the attack against a newly vulnerable Clinton, often in concert with another Democratic hopeful, former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.

“Advisers to Mr. Edwards and Mr. Obama said late Saturday night that they had not formally agreed to attack Mrs. Clinton,” write Patrick Healy and Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times. “They said it was a natural coincidence since both men are running as agents of change — and since Mr. Edwards, who was counting on a victory in Iowa, is looking for ways to set up a battle between Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, with him on the sidelines as the winner.”

Also over the weekend, Obama picked up the endorsement of former presidential candidate Bill Bradley.

And in a sign that some are starting to view Obama as the Democratic front-runner, GOP candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said over the weekend that he would be the best Republican to beat Obama next November.

“I’ve seen him in the Senate and worked with him on a couple issues in the Senate, and that’s been a productive exercise,” McCain told the Washington Post’s Dan Balz and Chris Cillizza. “I think he is a very good senator but I just think that he is a liberal Democrat and I am a conservative Republican and we will ventilate those differences as to our vision for the future of the country and I think it will be done respectfully.”

Looking ahead, NBC Nightly News will air a Brian Williams interview with the Illinois senator Monday evening. On primary day, Obama will hold a rally at Darthmouth College in Hanover and a primary night rally in Nashua.