Voters At Polls in NH

Throughout the afternoon, downtown Manchester was a political junkie’s fondest dream. Activists, volunteers and little-known would-be Presidents walked along Elm Street with signs and buttons chanting and yelling at passing motorists, most of whom were honking their horns.

At mid-day, the intersection of Elm and Hanover streets was host to three simultaneous rallies, by supporters of Clark, Edwards and Dean.

“It’s like Disneyland for politicians,” remarked Manchester Mayor Bob Baines.

Six major polls tracking the race yesterday show Kerry with leads of between 11 and 21 percentage points, with the race for third in doubt.

Secretary of State William M. Gardner says about 60,000, or nearly one-third, of the 184,000 people expected to vote will walk into polling places as undeclared, or independent, voters and will take Democratic ballots.