US primary season gets shorter and sharper as states vie for influence

At the Keene country club in New Hampshire, Republican presidential hopeful John McCain stands in the middle of a room full of prospective voters like a boxer taking on all-comers. The questions keep coming from every direction and on almost any subject: education, stem cell research, the war, small farms, milk prices, Chinese imports, moral standards, fuel efficiency and the weak dollar. The room is not much bigger than a church hall, crammed with a couple of hundred people. It's about as up-close and personal as politics gets.

"It's nice living in New Hampshire because we get to see the candidates at first hand," says Steve Lindsey, a local cab driver. "We see how they hold themselves on a public stage. We get to put matches in their shoes and then hold their feet to the fire."

"My family is in Oregon and they ask me what I think about the candidates because I get to meet them and they don't," adds Margaret Spicer.