Poll: McCain, Romney tied in New Hampshire

MANCHESTER, N.H., Jan. 2 (UPI) -- Republican U.S. presidential hopeful John McCain moved into a tie with Mitt Romney atop the New Hampshire CNN/WMUR poll released Wednesday.

Heading into Tuesday's primary, the poll showed the Democratic presidential nomination battle was a statistical dead heat, with Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., holding a 4-point lead over Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., 34 percent to 30 percent, among likely Democratic primary voters. The survey's sampling error of 5 percentage points, however, shows a virtual tie between the two. Former Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., was third at 17 percent.

McCain, a Republican U.S. senator from Arizona, and Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, each had the support of 29 percent of likely Republican primary voters. Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani was at 12 percent and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was at 10 percent.

"It's the McCain comeback," said CNN Senior Eolitical Analyst Bill Schneider. "His New Hampshire support dropped abruptly over the summer when his campaign nearly ran out of money. But he's made steady gains since then."

Both the presidential nomination races remained up for grabs, poll results showed, with about 25 percent of Democrats and Republicans surveyed indicating they wouldn't decide on a candidate until the primary election.