MANCHESTER, N.H. -- John McCain jokingly predicted a landslide while hoping for a mere victory and Hillary Rodham Clinton promised to spare no effort getting her supporters out as New Hampshire primary voters put their stamp Tuesday on a race imperiling presidential ambitions in both parties.

Supporters mobbed an upbeat McCain at a Nashua polling station, making it hard for him to reach voters as they filed inside. Noting he outpolled rivals in two tiny northern hamlets that voted before the rest of the state, McCain cracked: "It has all the earmarks of a landslide, with the Dixville Notch vote."

Residents of Dixville Notch and Hart's Location stayed up late to give Democrat Barack Obama and McCain early victories.

In Hart's Location, Obama received 9 votes, Hillary Rodham Clinton 3 and John Edwards 1. On the Republican side, McCain received 6 votes, Mike Huckabee 5, Ron Paul 4 and Mitt Romney 1.

In Dixville Notch, Obama got 7 votes, Edwards 2 and Bill Richardson 1. Among Republicans, McCain got 4 votes, Romney 2 and Rudy Giuliani 1.

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WATCH: CBS 5 News reporter Peter Busch reports from New Hampshire on last-minute campaigning. CLICK HERE for Peter's reports.

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"We're not gonna lose here," McCain predicted as he set out Monday on a packed day of campaigning through seven cities.

Political independents accounted for 41 percent of the vote in the 2000 Republican primary in the state. McCain carried that group, 61-19, over George W. Bush, and won the primary even though Bush won the GOP nomination.

Now, eight years later, McCain hopes to attract enough independent voters once more to defeat Romney.

But Sen. Barack Obama's rise presents a challenge McCain didn't face in 2000. The Illinois senator showed strong appeal among independents in Iowa, and pre-primary polling in New Hampshire indicates he is poised to gain substantial backing there, as well.

That left McCain contesting Obama for independents and Romney for Republicans as he worked to climb back into the race after his campaign nearly imploded last summer. At the time, he was struggling to defend the Iraq War, unpopular with independents and linked to an immigration position that drove away conservatives.

In the months since, he has worked to take the edge off the immigration issue, and the war has receded as a campaign concern as U.S. casualties have declined.

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DON'T MISS: KPHO.com political coverage. Includes special election interactive with candidate profiles and a timeline of events leading up to the November election.

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At daybreak, weather was spring-like and the turnout, according to early signs, brisk.

At Brookside Congregational Church in Manchester, 50 voters lined up before dawn and people waited in their cars for a parking space after doors opened.

When Mike Huckabee passed fellow GOP candidate Rudy Giuliani outside, Huckabee jokingly asked the former New York mayor for his vote. "We get along beautifully on the trail," Huckabee said. "No animosity."

Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea poured coffee for voters and a police officer at a Manchester elementary school before dawn, greeted by a dozen voters and twice as many supporters outside. "We're going to work all day to get the vote out," she said.

Campaigns spared no effort to get out the vote. Clinton' campaign was mobilizing more than 6,000 volunteers to knock on doors and nearly 300 drivers. Romney said his state headquarters, his "machine shop," had made 100,000 phone calls.

About 45 percent of the state's 828,000 registered voters were unaffiliated, more than double the percentage in Iowa, and they can vote in either party primary.

IOWA -- Jan. 3
(40 delegates)

Sen. Barack Obama, bidding to become the nation's first black president, swept to victory in the Iowa caucuses over Hillary Cllinton and a high-powered Democratic field. Mike Huckabee rode a wave of support from evangelical Christians to win the opening round among Republicans in the 2008 campaign for the White House.

Huckabee, a preacher turned politician, handily defeated Mitt Romney despite being outspent by tens of millions of dollars and deciding in the campaign's final days to scrap television commercials that would have assailed the former Massachusetts governor.

NEW HAMPSHIRE -- Jan. 8
(24 pledged delegates; Republican Party penalties will cut the number to 12)

Next-up New Hampshire is a toss-up -- between Romney and McCain.

The stakes are high for both. Romney, the former governor of a neighboring state who has a lakeside vacation home here, needs a win either to bounce back from an Iowa loss or, if he triumphs in the leadoff caucuses, to solidify his standing as the front-runner. He has had an edge for months after putting $6 million into ads and spending a year engaging in shoe-leather politics.

A loss for McCain would end his candidacy; he's pinned the fate of his second bid on the state he won in 2000, largely out of necessity after his campaign found itself broke and laying off staff over the summer. He has seen signs of a resurgence in recent weeks.

Both men will benefit from substantial get-out-the-vote operations, but McCain trails Romney dramatically in money.

Threatened despite a slight advantage in polls, Romney went on the air with ads in the final days that take McCain to task on taxes and immigration. McCain claims the criticism proves his rival's bid is in trouble. He responded with his own commercial that quotes newspaper editorials praising him and eviscerating Romney, including one that suggests his rival is a "phony."

Huckabee has gained ground here since early this year but he still dramatically lags his rivals. His New Hampshire organization is thin, but he could be a force here if he leaves Iowa a winner.

Giuliani, a Northeasterner, tried to play here, but his $3 million TV ad campaign failed to boost his standing. As McCain surged, Giuliani dipped. He since has re-focused on his original strategy of winning delegate-rich states that vote later, beginning with Florida.

Paul could have an impact in the "Live Free or Die" state.

Independents who can vote in either primary and helped McCain in 2000 are the X-factor; there's no guarantee they will vote in the Republican matchup over the star-studded Democratic race.

MICHIGAN -- Jan. 15
(57 pledged delegates; penalties will cut the number to 30)

Giuliani's once-strong support has plummeted. That's left a tight contest between Huckabee, whose success elsewhere has reverberated here, and Romney, who grew up in the state where his father was a governor. McCain won the state in 2000 and has some support here.

None of the candidates has given Michigan the attention it sought when it moved its primary to an early date.

The results from Iowa and New Hampshire could upend the race.

NEVADA -- Jan. 19
(34 delegates)

This Western state is a wild card. Republicans have hardly campaigned in a state that's geographically inconvenient. Nevada also holds caucuses that demand a stellar organization and boatloads of money. Most candidates don't have both. Polling shows Romney, Huckabee and Giuliani competitive.

SOUTH CAROLINA -- Jan. 19
(47 pledged delegates; party penalties will cut the number to 24)

Huckabee has an edge in this first-in-the-South primary battleground with the support of fellow white Christian evangelicals. But his lead is narrow. Romney and McCain are competing hard.

Although he lags both in organization and money, Huckabee could benefit from religious leaders rallying their followers.

Romney has maintained his popularity despite Bible Belt uneasiness about his religion. McCain, who lost a nasty primary here in 2000, wants South Carolina to be the second stop on his comeback tour.

Giuliani's rocky personal life and left-leaning positions on abortion and gay rights may be catching up with him in this conservative hotbed. South Carolina would seem a natural fit for Thompson the Tennessean, but money woes have limited his efforts here.

FLORIDA -- Jan. 29
(114 pledged delegates; Republican Party penalties will cut the number to 57)

Once Giuliani country, Florida now is up for grabs.

Huckabee is quickly gaining on the former New York mayor in a state that's home to many retired New Yorkers.

Huckabee's rapid ascent in polls has prompted Giuliani to start running TV ads here with a commercial that invokes the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Romney has a seemingly endless supply of money and the backing of several allies of the popular former governor, Jeb Bush.

One unknown -- whether the current governor, Charlie Crist, will endorse before the state votes.

MEGA TUESDAY -- Feb. 5
(at least 995 delegates)

No one knows how the creation of what essentially is a national primary day will affect the outcome of the race. More than 20 states will hold their primaries or caucuses on this day, including Arizona.

Romney, McCain, Thompson and Huckabee believe the rapid-fire primary calendar will make earlier contests more important.

Giuliani argues that he can emerge the nominee after winning states like California, New York and Illinois that are clustered on Feb. 5 and offer huge numbers of delegates.

His strategy requires big money to compete in extraordinarily expensive media markets in multiple states -- and he doesn't have the seemingly limitless amounts of cash that Romney does.