Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York rode a wave of female support to victory over Senator Barack Obama in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday night. In the Republican primary, meanwhile, Senator John McCain of Arizona revived his presidential bid with a Lazarus-like win.
Both candidates called their victories comebacks, because both followed their defeats in the Iowa caucuses, where Mrs. Clinton placed third and Mr. McCain fourth.

Against predictions of a second straight defeat to Obama, Clinton won because:
• Women rallied to her side. She won the female vote by more than 10 percentage points, according to exit polls, after losing among women in Iowa.
• The youth vote did not lift Obama as it did in Iowa. He won 51 percent of votes cast by people under 30, compared with 57 percent in Iowa.
• Clinton somehow stalled Obama's momentum. Nearly four of every 10 voters selected a candidate in the last three days of the campaign, splitting their votes between Obama and Clinton.