US presidential primary candidates took to the road again today in a race that was dramatically reshaped by last night's comeback wins of Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain in New Hampshire.
The pair and their support were predictably jubilant today but Ms Clinton's Democrat opponent Barack Obama received a boost of his own with the news that he has been endorsed by a key Nevada union ahead of his trip to Las Vegas.
Mr McCain, meanwhile, soared into Michigan with fresh momentum and promised to pull a repeat of his victory in Michigan's 2000 presidential nominating contest.
The unpredictable White House fight now enters a new national phase with candidates competing around the country heading into the February 5th "Super Tuesday" contests in 22 states.
Mr Obama won the backing of the Culinary Workers Union in Nevada, a major force in the state that on January 19th holds the next Democratic contest on the path to the November presidential election. The union's 60,000 members service the famed hotels and casinos on the Las Vegas strip.
Ms Clinton, the New York senator and former first lady, defied the polls to narrowly upset Obama in New Hampshire yesterday and set up a tough Democratic nominating battle that now heads to Nevada and South Carolina.
Her coffers received a significant boost of nearly $750,000 immediately after the win, but potentially much more valuable is the union's endorsement of Mr Obama.
"We had a wonderful dilemma," D. Taylor, the union's secretary treasurer, told a noisy news conference. "It's been a very difficult decision."
"We understand we are going against the Democratic power establishment ... we are used to being underdogs," he added.
The group's parent organization, UNITE HERE, with 460,000 food service, gaming and other workers nationwide, also expressed support for Mr Obama, the Illinois senator who is hoping to become America's first black president.
"It's a little bit of a surprise," said David Damore, an associate professor of political science at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. "A lot of people expected, especially after Clinton's turnaround in New Hampshire yesterday, that they would go for the establishment candidate."
The 71-year-old McCain's political rebirth also gave his once-struggling campaign new life and put him in the midst of a wild scramble for the Republican nomination that has so far produced no clear favorite.
"This state can again play a key role. We won here in 2000 and we will win again in 2008," McCain told an airport rally in Grand Rapids, first of two Michigan stops before he heads to South Carolina for two days of campaigning.
Michigan holds the next Republican nominating contest on Tuesday.
The state-by-state race to pick candidates for the November election to succeed President George W. Bush now changes from the intimate, face-to-face politics that characterised Iowa and New Hampshire to a wider national campaign driven by big-money television ads and cross-country plane trips.
New Hampshire's voters refused to follow the lead of Iowa, which last week gave Mr Obama, 46, and Republican former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, 52, the first big wins of the US presidential race.
The typically stoic Clinton conceded that an emotional moment during a pre-election rally on Monday, in which she came close to tears as she discussed her reasons for wanting the presidency, may have helped her.
"I had this incredible moment of connection with the voters of New Hampshire and they saw it and they heard it," she said on CBS' Early Show.