Tierney, Harrington expect close finishes in New Hampshire

Don’t expect the Iowa caucus victories to separate a clear winner from the pack of presidential candidates next Tuesday in New Hampshire.That is the advice of U.S. Rep. John Tierney, a Salem Democrat, and Republican activist Jim Harrington of Saugus after digesting Barack Obama’s and Republican Mike Huckabee’s wins Thursday night.Obama’s victory in the first statewide sampling of voters’ presidential preferences surprised Tierney, who expected a close three-way finish between the Illinois senator, and Sens. Hillary Clinton and John Edwards.Tierney said voters fed up with the Bush administration embraced Obama’s message of change. But he said all three Democrats have nuts and bolts work to do in New Hampshire if they want to declare victory.”They’ve got some hands to shake. I expect Obama will do well coming off this, but all of them are fortified. I look to have it be close again,” Tierney said.Clinton, the New York senator and former first lady, wound up third in Iowa, and second-place Edwards quickly sought to show her to the sidelines.”People are going to decide between a candidate who is not the candidate of money, not the candidate of the status quo, but somebody who will actually fight for the changes that we need, and it will be between Senator Obama and myself,” Edwards said.If the Democratic race appeared ready to turn in a more confrontational direction, the same thing was already under way among Republicans.”It will be a different race here,” vowed former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, defeated by Huckabee’s low-budget campaign in Iowa and now confronting a challenge from Arizona Sen. John McCain in the New Hampshire primary.Harrington, former local GOP committee chairman, said Huckabee’s appeal to Midwesterners does not automatically translate to New Hampshire. He thinks Mitt Romney and John McCain offer “more centrist, moderate views” that will translate into a Romney victory Tuesday with McCain following him “very, very closely.”Further complicating the race is the presence of a large bloc of undecided voters in New Hampshire. McCain benefited from their support in 2000 when he won the state’s primary, and he is appealing to the same group to vote for him this year.On the other hand, Obama profited handsomely in Iowa from the presence of thousands of independents who flocked to the Democratic caucuses.Tierney is holding off endorsing a candidate until he hears the presidential aspirants provide additional details on their plans for improving the economy and redefining the U.S. image around the world.”I’ve been approached by all of them. We’ll take a look and decide if we will get involved,” he said.Harrington would like to see Rudolph Guiliani carry the GOP standard into the White House. Like Tierney, he expects the early February mega primary to anoint frontrunners for both parties.