Edwards looks ahead to S.C. test
MANCHESTER, N.H. -- For North Carolina Senator John Edwards, New Hampshire is just the warm-up.
With a strong second place Iowa caucus finish in hand, the Edwards campaign is already looking to the Feb. 3 South Carolina primary, where his self-proclaimed pull on Southern voters will be put to the test.
"Our goal from the beginning was to do good in Iowa, and better than expected in New Hampshire," said Roger Salazar, an Edwards campaign spokesman.
Nonetheless, the North Carolina senator has campaigned hard here, holding more than 100 town hall meetings and many more speeches over the course of a year.
Yesterday, he campaigned to the wire, holding well-attended events in Portsmouth, Manchester, and Concord, the state's big population centers.
He began the day at a Milford high school, telling the crowd: "Together you and I are going to change this country and we're going to start tomorrow in New Hampshire."
His campaign has raised $660,000 on the Internet since the Iowa caucus eight days ago, plus several hundred thousand more from private fund-raisers.
Edwards plans to fly straight from here to South Carolina this evening, and to spend the next week campaigning hard.
Edwards, in interviews, has made clear he must win South Carolina. An American Research Group poll released this past weekend shows the race tight there.
Raja Mishra can be reached at rmishra@globe.com. 