- Sen. John McCain will win the New Hampshire GOP primary, CNN projects.


Voters register to take part in the primary in Manchester, New Hampshire.
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Among Democrats, Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are in a tight race, early results show.

With 12 percent of precincts counted, Clinton had 40 percent of the vote to Iowa caucus winner Obama's 36 percent. Former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards had 17 percent. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson had 4 percent, and Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich had 2 percent.

Edwards will finish third, CNN projects.

With 9 percent of Republican precincts reporting, McCain had 37 percent of the vote. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was second with 28 percent, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the winner of last week's Iowa GOP caucuses followed with 12 percent.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani had 9 percent and Texas Rep. Ron Paul had 8 percent.

Voters who supported McCain and those who supported projected runner-up Romney differed significantly on what issues they feel are most important, exit polling shows.

Forty-six percent of those who supported McCain ranked the war in Iraq the most important. Meanwhile, voters who supported Romney overwhelmingly felt immigration was the most important issue.

McCain has been a staunch supporter of the war in Iraq, but co-sponsored comprehensive immigration reform legislation that drew the ire of many conservatives in his party. The legislation failed to pass Congress. Romney has been taking a tough stance on immigration.

Voters turned out in higher-than-expected numbers Tuesday, with a sizable chunk making decisions on who to support at the last minute, according to early exit polls.

Eighteen percent of Republicans and 15 percent of Democrats said they picked their candidate on Election Day.

But the fate of the candidates could rest in the hands of New Hampshire independent voters, who make up about 40 percent of the electorate. A CNN-WMUR poll Sunday found independent voters split almost evenly between the parties this year.

The state's governor predicted a record turnout for the first-in-the-nation presidential primary as candidates zigzagged across the New England state trying to influence undecided voters.

Gov. John Lynch said he expects half a million people to vote.

The governor's prediction followed record-breaking numbers in last week's Iowa Democratic and Republican caucuses.


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A wide open race in both parties and unseasonably mild temperatures could be contributing to the long lines at voting locations across the state.

"We've had unbelievable turnout for a primary," said I-Reporter Cynthia Gunn of Bow, New Hampshire. "It's a perfect voting day."

"Any other time we'd be having to shuttle a lot of people around, but people don't have a lot of excuses not to get out and vote today," said Gunn, a supporter of Obama of Illinois.

New Hampshire Deputy Secretary of State Dave Scanlan said high turnout at polling stations is forcing the New Hampshire secretary of state's office to send more ballots to some polling locations, including Hampton Falls, Portsmouth, Keene, Hudson and Pelham.

In particular, the polling places were running low on Democratic ballots, Scanlan said, but no polling station had run out.

If a station does run out, leftover absentee ballots could be used or the remaining ballots could be photocopied, initialed by a town clerk and counted by hand, Scanlan said.

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The New Hampshire secretary of state's office said anyone waiting in line when the polls officially close at 8 p.m. ET will be allowed to vote.

Voting began in two hamlets just after midnight, hours before the rest of the state's polling places opened. See the New Englanders head to the polls »

The first ballots were cast in Dixville Notch, a hamlet of about 75 near the Canadian border.

People there favored McCain in the Republican primary -- he got four votes -- and Obama in the Democratic contest, who won seven votes.

Obama and McCain also won in midnight voting in Hart's Location, population 42.

In recent days, Clinton saw Obama open up a 9-point lead in polls, while McCain, whose campaign was written off as near-dead last summer, surged past Romney.

Asked Tuesday afternoon at a doughnut shop in Manchester whether he would consider himself the front-runner if he were to win in New Hampshire, Obama said, "I'm never a front-runner; I'm always the underdog."

Clinton of New York has tried to turn the tide by emphasizing her record as a "change agent," as a senator and as first lady.

She fought tears Monday as she described the stakes in the campaign at a forum with uncommitted voters in Portsmouth, calling it "one of the most important elections America has ever faced."

"This is very personal for me -- it's not just political, it's not just public," she said in response to a question about the stress of the campaign. "I see what's happening, and we have to reverse it."

Former President Clinton lashed out at the media coverage Monday night, saying Obama should be pressed more fully on Iraq and accusing the senator from Illinois of shifting his position to reflect changing attitudes on the war. Watch as the ex-president tears into Obama's record »

"And you took that speech you're now running on off your Web site in 2004. And there's no difference in your voting record and Hillary's ever since."

He added, "Give me a break. This whole thing is the biggest fairy tale I've ever seen."

Obama dismissed the former president's comments, saying "It seems like you guys have been reporting on me the entire year.

"I remember this summer when we were down 20 points, we were getting knocked around pretty good, and I didn't hear the Clinton camp complaining about how terrible the press was."

Meanwhile, Edwards sharpened his criticism of Clinton, blasting her for taking money from the pharmaceutical and defense interests the former trial lawyer routinely excoriates on the stump.

"I've never taken any money -- any money -- from a Washington lobbyist or a special interest PAC. She's continued to do that. She's taken more lobbyist money than any candidate," Edwards said Tuesday in Manchester.

On the Republican side, McCain expressed confidence he would win the Republican primary, just as he did during his first White House bid eight years ago.

"We are going to prove that you can't buy an election in the state of New Hampshire -- and we are also going to prove that negative attack ads don't work either," he said Monday in a jab at Romney, his leading rival.

Romney has poured $8 million into television ads in New Hampshire, outspending McCain 2-to-1, according to figures from TNS Media Intelligence/CMAG, CNN's consultant on TV campaign advertising.

Romney expressed confidence Tuesday that he would win the Republican primary because voters want an outsider who can fix how the federal government operates. Watch Romney he can bring about change »

Romney also spent heavily in Iowa, only to be beaten by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. Huckabee won the GOP Iowa caucuses with extensive support from evangelical Christian voters, but he was running third in the more secular, libertarian New Hampshire with 13 percent, Monday's poll found.



Huckabee said Tuesday he would be happy with a third place finish in New Hampshire. "That would be huge for us," he told CNN.

"Even fourth is still better than where we were even two or three weeks ago, when we were, like, in sixth place. A lot of people had said there was no point in us even coming to New Hampshire," he said.

CNN: McCain wins New Hampshire GOP primary - CNN.com