Candidates’ motto as N.H. voting starts: Live to fight on

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• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  The months of campaigning and the endless TV ads have all come to a close today in New Hampshire. This primary day means voters finally have to decide who wins, and the losers have to decide whether to go on.

  Our political director, Lisa Desjardins, is in New Hampshire, where she has watched the day's events.

• LISA DESJARDINS:

  The campaign buses rolled across the Granite State one last time, and candidates made one last push to sway possible supporters. Many of those voters admitted they were last-minute deciders.

• JODY MCINTYRE, New Hampshire Voter:

  I just got out of my car and I said, oh, my God, who am I going to vote for? Who am I going to vote for?

• LISA DESJARDINS:

  For others, it was more excitement than angst in their initial experience with the first-in-the-nation primary.

• MAN:

  Hey, we got a first-time voter.

  (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

• WOMAN:

  I don't know. I just felt that it's time for me to become an American citizen. It's my right. So I'm doing it.

• LISA DESJARDINS:

  And what a state to have that right.

• WOMAN:

  I know. Live free or die.

  HILLARY CLINTON (D), Democratic Presidential Candidate: Glad you're out so early.

• LISA DESJARDINS:

  For the candidates, it's more about living to fight on. Hillary Clinton ventured into a frosty Manchester morning to keep volunteers' spirits up with a selfie or two, and promised her team won't quit.

• HILLARY CLINTON:

  We're going to keep working literally until every last vote is cast and counted.

• LISA DESJARDINS:

  Rival Bernie Sanders was also out, urging along supporters outside a polling site in Nashua.

  Among Republicans, Marco Rubio drew a largely friendly crowd at a polling site, but a few detractors as well. One showed up in a robot costume, a pointed reminder of criticism that Rubio came off too programmed in last Saturday's debate.

  At a later stop, the candidate made clear he won't be deterred, regardless of tonight's result.

  SEN. MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), Republican Presidential Candidate: And then going to South Carolina and continue to build, and — as we get into the other states.

• LISA DESJARDINS:

  Some of his rivals, too, insisted they're staying in the race.

• New Jersey Governor Chris Christie:

  GOV. CHRIS CHRISTIE (R-NJ), Republican Presidential Candidate: I will see you in South Carolina.

• LISA DESJARDINS:

  Ohio Governor John Kasich:

  GOV. JOHN KASICH (R-OH), Republican Presidential Candidate: Well, we're going to South Carolina.

  (CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

• GOV. JOHN KASICH:

  We will be fine.

• LISA DESJARDINS:

  And former Florida Governor Jeb Bush:

  FORMER GOV. JEB BUSH (R), Republican Presidential Candidate: This is a long, long process, and a lot of things can happen in a very volatile year. So, you're going to see me.

  DONALD TRUMP (R), Republican Presidential Candidate: Thank you. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

• LISA DESJARDINS:

  The man they have all been chasing, Donald Trump, had a light schedule today. And in the end, some who voted today said it wasn't about the outcome, but about savoring a unique day in democracy.

• FRAN WHITAKER, New Hampshire Voter:

  That's the most important. It's almost less important who wins than that people just exercise their right to vote.

• LISA DESJARDINS:

  From New Hampshire, the Democratic race moves on to the Nevada caucuses on February 20. The next Republican primary, that's in South Carolina the same day.

  But, of course, we're still waiting to see what happens this day. And one factor always is turnout. I have to say, Judy, the secretary of state, Bill Gardner, of New Hampshire expects a heavy turnout. It's been steady at the polls, but there's about 900,000 registered voters in New Hampshire. The secretary of state expects 500,000 of them to have come out today — Judy.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  You can just feel the excitement all the way here in Washington.

  So, Lisa, you were out today at polling places talking to voters. What are they saying to you?

• LISA DESJARDINS:

  You know, there were some of the storylines we have been reporting on. I talked to many Donald Trump voters today, and they told me to a person that they are not just voting in protest, that they do believe Donald Trump could be a strong president.

  I asked them even further, Judy, what do you make of the fact that some people say they're offended by Donald Trump, they think that he sort of is too loose of a cannon? They said they know that that's true, but they're willing to take that risk because they think America is in such a weak position, that they want a leader like Donald Trump.

  So, that certainly was something I came across at the polls. What surprised me the most, two other Republicans, I heard the name Jeb Bush more than I expected, and also a lot of John Kasich, which we have been talking about before. The Jeb Bush voters I talked to seemed to be people who had been kind of having a tough decision between Bush, Kasich and Christie.

  And in this last weekend and even one of them today in the hour that he voted decided to go with Jeb Bush. He said he felt that Jeb Bush was the most presidential, someone who stood his ground in the last debate,but didn't go on the attack.

  Marco Rubio, also a name I heard at the polls, those voters who said that they liked Marco Rubio on the Republican side told me that they felt he was the most erectable. They said they did in fact have doubts after his performance in last — in this weekend's debate, but that they're sticking with him because they still think in the long run he's the one who can beat a Democrat, the most likely.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  Well, from looking at these early exit polls we have been seeing and how many Republicans voters say they made up their minds just in the last few days, that gives you a sense of the level of how unsettled this race is on the Republican side.

  Lisa, what about on the Democratic side? What are you hearing?

• LISA DESJARDINS:

  There, I think what we have been talking about, this idea that Bernie Sanders has caught fire in New Hampshire, it's something that I found just in the few polling locations I went to.

  But I did voter after voter who said they like Bernie Sanders. And I asked, you know, what do you think about his electability? They said, I'm actually not thinking about that. I think he does have as much of a chance as Hillary Clinton, but these voters, Judy, told me that they are voting with their heart. They're not voting strategically. They are wanting — they are voting for the candidate that they themselves would put in office, whether or not they think that's the candidate who is most likely to win in November.

  For many of those voters I talked to today, that was Bernie Sanders.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  And, finally, Lisa, you were telling me about some of the radio and television spots that are playing there in New Hampshire here in the final hours?

• LISA DESJARDINS:

  That's right.

  It will be a great sigh of relief and there will be many headaches gone tomorrow when these ads stop, but, today, Judy, there have been even more ads, and some of them really even sharper than ever, some of them getting into personal lives. I heard one that was a very personal attack on Jeb Bush, and back and forth between the candidates, especially on radio, Judy.

  We have talked about some of the candidates' TV ads, but the radio ads are increasingly personal and increasingly sharp. And, of course, if you drop an ad like that today, it doesn't give a candidate a chance to respond. Now, that seemed to be coming from the more conservative wing of the party.

  And I think there's something I want to point out here, too. When I talked to Democratic voters today, Judy, all of them seemed to indicate, whether they liked Bernie Sanders or Hillary Clinton, that they would be happy with either of those candidates in the end. Not so on the Republican Party. And I know we will get more into this later into the show.

  Many Republicans here feel this is a do-or-die moment for their wing of the party. They feel like this is a moment where the party either has a future or doesn't, and that's from both sides, conservatives and moderates, both of them are concerned that the other side of the party will gain momentum here in New Hampshire.

• JUDY WOODRUFF:

  Well, that's something for us to chew on.

  All right, Lisa Desjardins, who is going to be dashing from campaign hotel to campaign hotel tonight, thank you.