US Election:Business was brisk at Brookside Congregational Church in downtown Manchester yesterday morning as New Hampshire voters took part in the first presidential primary of 2008. Supporters of many of the candidates stood behind a cordon, most of them carrying signs for Hillary Clinton, John McCain and Mitt Romney, writes Denis Stauntonin Manchester, New Hampshire.
Across New Hampshire, voting was so heavy that the authorities sent extra ballot papers to some towns where turnout was especially strong in the Democratic primary.
There were surprisingly few Barack Obama signs but it didn't take long to find voters who were backing the Illinois senator who was expected to bring home his second big victory within a week.
Clare Callaghan, an actor with a touring company that specialises in Shakespeare and the Greek classics, resisted Obama's lure for months before she decided to vote for him.
"I'm a realist and a bit of a cynic. My husband has been besotted with Obama for so long but I was hesitant. But I do think he is definitely an agent of change in terms of inspiring this new sense of hope that we so need," she said.
For Kerrie Greene, who brought her two young children along to the polling station, it was Obama's experience of growing up overseas that persuaded her to vote for him.
"He understands that America is not the only country in the world," she said.
Elaine Belliveau was happy with the entire Democratic slate but she felt that Obama lacked the experience to be president this time so she voted for Hillary Clinton.
"She doesn't really speak to my heart but she's the most experienced after all those years in the White House. I'm a strong feminist and I think she's electable," she said.
Kathleen Robinson backed Obama because he reminded her of John F. Kennedy but her husband Scott, a Republican, voted for John McCain.
"I've voted Republican for 40 years and McCain is the most trustworthy of them. What he says today, he'll still be saying next week," he said.
Commercial real estate agent Tom Dickson acknowledged that McCain's chief Republican rival, Mitt Romney, had changed his position on everything from abortion and gay rights to immigration but he still voted for the former Massachusetts governor.
"I think we need a businessman and he's got the best experience. As a businessman, you've got to make changes and I think that's what he's done," he said.
With his heavy black eye make-up and his Goth jewellery, 19 year-old Kyle Hoake looked like an unlikely Republican voter but he told me that he had backed Ron Paul, the Texas congressman who wants to abolish income tax and bring home all US troops from overseas.
It wasn't Paul's domestic or foreign policies that attracted Hoake, however, but his profession before he entered politics.
"I like the fact that he was a doctor and he saved lives. He could really have what it takes to bring us out of the shadows," he said.