Kerry pulls off strong victory in New Hampshire

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- It was obvious from early on that the John Kerry campaign was banking on strong numbers in the New Hampshire primary. The song they chose to sound check campaign headquarters that afternoon before the results came in was U2's "Beautiful Day."

Senator Kerry continued to build momentum in his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination by winning decisively in yesterday's primary. Kerry received 39 percent of the vote, while Howard Dean was far behind with 26 percent.

"Well, I love New Hampshire." Kerry said last night. After a pause, he added, "I love Iowa, too."

With his second win in seven days, Kerry appeared confident and relaxed while delivering his victory speech from the Holiday Inn in downtown Manchester.

"Together, let us lift our country up to the America it can become," Kerry said.

Kerry appeared on stage surrounded by a diverse group of supporters. "Firefighters for Kerry," "Pro-Choice with Kerry," and "Conservative Voters for Kerry" were among the signs spotted at his campaign last night.

The fifteen-point margin of victory confirmed Kerry's recovery -- two weeks ago, Dean had twenty percentage points over all other candidates in New Hampshire. Kerry credited his success to his campaign organization, and National Campaign Advisor Jeanne Shaheen. Shaheen is the former governor of New Hampshire, and co-taught a course last semester in the Tufts Political Science Department.

Political science professor James Glaser said that yesterday's results should not be underestimated. "It's not just the New Hampshire voters that matter," he said, "It's the people that donate money to the campaigns."

After their better than expected finishes in Iowa last week, Kerry and John Edwards, "showed their viability, it had immediate impact on their ability" to raise money, he said.

Kerry's victory capped a chaotic day in Manchester, where thousands of supporters crammed the streets to show last minute support for the eight Democratic candidates. Included in the fray were dozens of Tufts students who have been campaigning in the state for months.

This included sophomore Aaron Banks, who has been interning for Kerry since last summer. Banks said Tufts was strongly represented among local colleges by having the most interns and volunteers on the Kerry campaign.

Banks supervised a phone bank set up by the International Association of Fire Fighters.

"The workers gave up commissioned pay to work on the campaign, that's how strongly they feel about this," Banks said.

Banks said the town he was responsible for phone banking went to Kerry with a two to one margin. "This was a great experience, there's real ability to advance," Banks said. Despite his positive campaign experience, Banks will return to campus today.

"As much as I want go on the road and live like a rock and roll star, I'm going back to class for now," Banks said.

Volunteers were not the only Tufts students in the state yesterday. The ExCollege class "Making TV for Social Change," made a documentary about primary day.

"This is our first assignment and it's such a great opportunity," Senior Esra Yalcinalp said. After a crash training course in the morning, the class spilt up and filmed almost five hours of footage, which must be edited in the upcoming weeks.

Yalcinalp said the class had already spoken to candidates Dennis Kucinich and Wesley Clark, as well as Shaheen, and was filming at the Kerry victory speech.

Glaser, Political Science Professor Jeff Berry, and Bill Mayer from Northeastern lead a trip of 73 students -- 40 from Tufts -- to New Hampshire over the weekend. All political science students were invited. Students went to town meetings for Edwards and Lieberman, and took a tour of CNN Headquarters in Manchester, NH.

The noise from the crowd inside the hotel began building after the Associated Press declared Kerry the winner at 7:45 p.m. By the time Kerry appeared at 9:30, the room was overflowing with celebrating volunteers, donors and residents.

Kerry also touted his military connections, referring to his "Band of Brothers" and fellow combatants in Vietnam.

"I know something about aircraft carriers for real," Kerry said. "And if George W. Bush wants to make national security the central issue of this campaign, I have three words for him I know he understands: bring it on."

Kerry also explicitly thanked young volunteers twice during his speech.

"You stayed the course and because of you this has been a successful and happy campaign," he said.

With his twin victories, Kerry left late Thursday for South Carolina to begin campaigning for the seven states that have primaries next Tuesday, Feb. 3.

Brian Loeb contributed to this article.