Quest: 2nd, 3rd and 4th count in New Hampshire
 |
CNN's Richard Quest in New Hampshire
Story Tools
VIDEO
|
CNN's Jeff Greenfield on New Hampshire and the nomination.
CNN's Candy Crowley on the reshaping of Howard Dean's image.
John Edwards is courting undecided voters in New Hampshire.
|
SPECIAL REPORT
|
|
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS
|
Follow the news that matters to you. Create your own alert to be notified on topics you're interested in.
Or, visit Popular Alerts for suggestions.
|
|
MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN) -- As New Hampshire voters prepare to cast ballots Tuesday in the nation's first presidential primary, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts is indicated by polls to be the Democratic Party front-runner, followed by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.
London-based CNN Correspondent Richard Quest is stamping about in the snow with the candidates and campaign workers for a first-hand look from the UK perspective at the first American presidential primary of the 2004 political season. He files this report.
QUEST: The conventional wisdom in any election is that coming in first is what it is all about. Anything else, frankly, is a bit like an umbrella with a hole in it. Not much use.
And it is certainly true that the leading contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination are all going hell-for-leather to make sure they are in the No. 1 spot.
But there comes a time in a primary race when common sense says you are not going to be the winner -- so you might as well salvage what you can. Which is where we are in the race for the Democratic nomination.
John Kerry, the senator from Massachusetts, is currently out in front in the polls. But this is not a simple horse race to the finish -- more of a marathon in several stages. For the candidates, it is the ability to live to fight another day that is now the crucial task.
For instance, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. It is almost unthinkable that he will garner enough support to win New Hampshire.
Even he seemed to admit such in interviews Sunday, talking about making sure he has a good showing -- which is a lot different from talking about winning.
What Lieberman is doing, is making sure his campaign stays viable so he will be able to fight in the next round of primaries in early February, when seven states are up for grabs, including South Carolina, Delaware and Arizona.
You see, in those states his brand of Democratic politics might be more acceptable to voters, and he could gain vital delegates to the nominating convention this summer.
As one pundit told me, it might not be the most likely scenario, but it's perfectly possible. So even with polls showing him down in the snowy dumps, he battles on.
The same is true for Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. The latest New Hampshire polls have him in fourth place -- but he knows he will be soon looking at delegate-rich races in other parts of the country where he stands much better chances.
So he too wants to ensure that, although a victory in this cold Northeastern state is unlikely, a good performance is vital.
Much of this, of course, is about the need to raise money to remain competitive, and pay for the expensive television advertisements and the legions of paid help to drum up votes. (You can only use unpaid volunteers so far, before you need professional pols to make the thing happen.)
And money (or more correctly, contributors) love success: The moment a campaign gets the stench of death about it then, frankly, financial support dries up.
It is hard to ask the wealthy to donate when they know the money will be going down the election drain. But, if you can show that there was a reasonable degree of support and that you made a respectable showing in states where you were not expected to do well, there is a chance the checks keep rolling in.
Which is why the candidates continue in the face of seemingly hopeless odds: It is all about staying in the race.
Remember that umbrella I talked about at the start? You may not be able to buy a new one, but you can certainly put a patch over it to prevent you getting washed out on a rainy primary day.
