Police arrest hostage-taker after N.H. standoff

ROCHESTER, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Police arrested a man who seized several hostages at Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton's New Hampshire campaign office on Friday after a tense six-hour standoff.

Live television showed a man emerging from Clinton's campaign office in Rochester, New Hampshire in white shirt and red tie with silver duct tape wrapped around his waist over what he had earlier told police were explosives.

The man, identified by media as Leeland Eisenberg, was arrested after unwrapping the tape and putting his hands in the air.

Clinton, a New York senator and former first lady, was not in New Hampshire and canceled a speaking date in Virginia immediately after news of the incident broke.

At least three people had been taken hostage.

A woman campaign volunteer emerged from the building hours earlier and was quickly escorted to safety, witnesses said. A second was released soon after. A man in his 20s was escorted to safely after the hostage-taker was seized by police.

Heavily armed police in black protective vests and helmets patrolled the area near the office in the state that helps kick off the 2008 White House race. Others restrained crowds behind yellow police tape as news helicopters hovered overhead.

The first political caucus in Iowa on January 3 and the first primary in New Hampshire on January 8 begin the state-by-state battle for the Democratic and Republican party nominations in the 2008 race for the White House.

The Rochester campaign offices of Democrats Barack Obama and John Edwards, who are competing with Clinton, were evacuated along with nearby businesses. Schools in the area locked their doors during the four-hour standoff.

(Additional reporting by Scott Malone in Boston. Writing by Jason Szep, editing by Todd Eastham)