Washington, An emotional Hillary Clinton vowed to keep fighting as a second successive defeat stared the former Democratic front-runner in the face in Tuesday's New Hampshire Primary with the party's Iowa victor Barrack Obama riding a popular wave.

"You're the wave and I'm riding it," Obama, who's seeking to be America's first black president, told cheering supporters in the bellwether state as a flurry of polls showed him with a commanding 10-13 points (41-28) lead over Clinton.

But the former first lady who finished third in the first contest in Iowa behind Obama and 2004 Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards said Monday: "I've always felt that this is going to be a very tough, hard-fought election, and I'm ready for that."

"And we're going to keep going until the end of the process on Feb 5," she told the CBS "Early Show".

On Feb 5, the so-called Super Duper Tuesday, as many as 22 of the 50 states hold nomination contests for the Nov 4 US presidential election.

Although New Hampshire sends only 30 of the 4,050 Democratic delegates who would choose the party's nominee at a convention in August, another defeat would make the going really tough for Clinton with the one in Iowa robbing her of the aura of inevitability.

Considering that Obama and Clinton were in a dead heat (33-33) in New Hampshire a day after Iowa, an almost all white and rural state, a second win before the Jan 19 primary in South Carolina, where about half the voters are black, may make Obama practically unstoppable.

Rolling across New Hampshire with his message of change that has boosted his campaign, Obama warned his supporters: "Do not take this race for granted. I know we had a nice boost over the last couple of days but elections are funny things."

Even as she continued with her campaign theme of experience and promised real change, Clinton became visibly emotional at a campaign event when she talked about her reasons for seeking the presidency.

"Some of us put ourselves out there and do this," she said, her voice breaking and her eyes welling up with tears, "against some pretty difficult odds and we do it, each one of us, because we care about our country."

"But some of us are right and some of us are wrong," she said. "Some of us ready and some of us are not. Some of us know what we will do on day one, and some of us really haven't thought that through enough."

At another campaign event, Democratic rival Edwards said he was unaware of Clinton's emotional reaction and would not respond to it. But he added: "I think what we need in a commander in chief is strength and resolve.

"Presidential campaigns are a tough business, but being president of the United States is also a very tough business. And the president of the United States is faced with very, very difficult challenges every single day, difficult judgements every single day."

On the Republican side, Vietnam War veteran John McCain held a narrow five-point lead over former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney in new opinion polls.

"I'm proud to say I'm going to win tomorrow," said McCain who has bounced back into the campaign after a poor showing through last summer.

Romney, who at one time led polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, finished second in Iowa to former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. But unlike Obama, Huckabee, a Baptist preacher, ranks third in New Hampshire.

Picking up the theme of change, Romney said if voters really want change in Washington, they should pick a president who has spent most of his life in the private sector. In business, "change was part of the everyday occurrence", the former CEO and Olympics organiser said.

Former New York mayor Giuliani, until recently the Republican leader in national polls, is tied with Texas representative Ron Paul for fourth.

Meanwhile, CNN said Clinton isn't the only one worried about Obama's post-Iowa momentum. Obama could win a significant portion of the Republican vote in a general election, if he becomes the Democratic nominee, it said citing a former top Republican official.

The leading Republican strategist, who according to CNN advises a number of Republican presidential candidates, said: "I think Barack Obama is a potential Robert Kennedy or Reagan figure."

And "in terms of raw political horsepower, he is the most electable of any of the Democrats and potentially more electable than (former president) Bill Clinton. If he ran the right campaign he could appeal to a substantial number of Republicans and independents," the channel quoted him as saying.

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