Americans excited by Iowa choices, ponder Clinton

CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Many Americans on Friday cheered the upstart victories of Democrat Barack Obama and Republican Mike Huckabee in Iowa's presidential nominating contest, viewing it as a comeuppance for big-money candidates.

While voters outside of Iowa were forced to watch from the sidelines as the Midwestern corn state kicked off the race for the White House, many said they were happy with the results, if a little surprised by the strength of the victors.

"Iowa is not a giant state or anything, but it spoke volumes, because people who were favored there didn't win." said Francis Charfauros, an Obama supporter and coffee shop manager in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Former Arkansas Gov. Huckabee posted a convincing victory in Iowa over rival Mitt Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts who outspent Huckabee by a 20-to-1 margin and had led the polls there for months until a late Huckabee surge.

The strong victory on the Democratic side of Illinois Sen. Obama upset what was once assumed would be the smooth path to the party's nomination for well-funded former First Lady Hillary Clinton.

The race has now moved on to New Hampshire, where several candidates could overtake the Iowa victors in the state-by-state process to choose candidates for the November election to replace President George W. Bush.

"I thought it was pretty cool actually," said Rod Frank, an Arizona construction worker.

"The last person I wanted in the White House was Hillary, and I thought it was cool that Huckabee took over the front runners," said Frank, who favors either Huckabee or Romney for the Republican nomination.

Ohio independent voter Zewge Tegegnework, 70, was just as pleased with the results.

"If the Democrats don't win, I'd take Mike Huckabee as a second choice. He's intelligent, he withstood Romney's negative attacks, and he is a gentle campaigner."

STAYING POWER

But the third-place finish by Clinton behind both Obama and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards disappointed some.

"I'm a little bit sad for Hillary," said Ann Haugen Michael, 53, a Cincinnati Montessori teacher. "I'm an Obama supporter and Hillary supporter both."

Barbara Milligan, a retired secretary in Nashville, Tennessee, agreed.

"I'm disappointed that Clinton didn't come in first because I want to see a woman president," she said.

But several voters said it was too early to count anyone out in the race for the White House -- especially since subsequent voting states have different demographics than Iowa, whose voters tend to be more religious, whiter, and more concerned about rural issues than other Americans.

"Clinton looks like she got beat, but the Clintons have a way of popping up even after bad things happen to them, so you never know. She might still end up being the person for the Democratic party," said Milwaukee business manager Lynn Winkler, 39.

The ability of Obama, who would be the first black president, to hold off Clinton was also questioned.

"Is he going to win in the end? I don't know. Is the country ready for a black president? I don't know," said Tegegnework.

Former Baptist minister Huckabee's staying power was also doubted, in part because the strong presence of evangelical Christians in Iowa will not be matched in some subsequent voting states.

"I don't think Huckabee will ever be elected -- he doesn't believe in evolution," said Haugen Michael.

Arizona coffee shop manager Charfauros was also skeptical.

"A lot of people think 'Okay, so why did a minister go into politics?' ... I think a lot of people shy away from that, especially traditionalists who want to separate religion from the state," he said.

(Additional reporting by Tim Gaynor in Arizona, Mike Conlon and Andrew Stern in Chicago, and Claudia Parsons in New Hampshire; editing by Michael Conlon and Stuart Grudgings)