Undecided voters give Obama hope in 2008 race

By Jason Szep and Ellen Wulfhorst

ALTON, New Hampshire (Reuters) - David Tothill is neither a Republican nor a Democrat but he knows what he wants in the 2008 White House race -- a fresh face.

"I like to believe that we can have a leader whose family name is not Bush or Clinton," said the 53-year-old retired software engineer after hearing Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama speak. "I like what Obama had to say."

The first-term Illinois senator is counting on voters like Tothill, one of many undecided independent voters who can cast ballots in either the Republican or Democratic primary in the influential early voting state of New Hampshire, well ahead of the November 2008 election.

Obama has an uphill task. New York Sen. Hillary Clinton leads in national polls as well as in New Hampshire six weeks before the start of the state-by-state battle for the Democratic nomination.

A CNN/WMUR poll by the University of New Hampshire released on Tuesday showed Clinton's lead widening over the past two weeks to nine points from six points in the state that traditionally holds the first presidential primary. One sign of hope for Obama -- almost half of Democratic voters have not finally decided.

And there are signs the fight for the Democratic nomination is tightening. A Washington Post-ABC News poll on Monday showed Obama opening a four-point lead over Clinton in Iowa, within the statistical margin of error. Iowa's caucuses kick off the selection process for the nominations.

A national Reuters/Zogby poll released on Wednesday showed Obama narrowing Clinton's lead by 10 points to 38 percent to 27 percent, down from her 46 percent to 25 percent lead last month.

"He (Obama) is the new face. I think New Hampshire voters respond to that," said Boston University politics professor Thomas Whalen.

"He doesn't seem like someone who goes by the traditional script. He's actually saying things that are different and New Hampshire voters, typically younger voters, respond to that," Whalen said.

CAMPAIGN TRAIL

In New Hampshire, the former first lady has aggressively courted both blue-collar, working-class Democrats and liberal, wealthier voters.

Obama took to the campaign trail in the rugged New England state this week, stressing the need for a new political era in Washington. With the primary likely on January 8, he plans to return next week after stops in Iowa on Saturday and Sunday, knowing that a Clinton victory in the two states could give her irresistible momentum.

"I hear candidates say, 'Elect me because I know how to play the game better in Washington.' We don't need somebody who plays the game better. We need somebody to put an end to the game-playing," Obama told a crowd of several hundred in Alton, a New Hampshire town in the Belknap Mountain range.

University of New Hampshire political scientist Dante Scala said Obama needs to do better among middle-class liberals.

"They've got status jobs. They are professionals. They are lawyers. They've got a college education or more. That should be Obama's core constituency, and I think they right now are trying to figure out what to do," he said.