ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Robert Siegel.
MELISSA BLOCK, host:
I'm Melissa Block.
And Iowa? That was so yesterday. With the caucuses behind them, the presidential candidates hit the campaign trail in New Hampshire today, slightly worn out voices and all.
(Soundbite of political speeches)
Senator BARACK OBAMA (Democrat, Illinois): And New Hampshire, if you give me the same chance that Iowa gave me last night, I truly believe I will be the president of the United States of America.
Mr. MIKE HUCKABEE (Former Republican Governor, Arkansas): People are connecting. And it's not because I'm waving money at them, it's because I'm talking about how to make America better. I think, obviously, I don't change what I'm doing because it's working. And I just make sure I get it to more people.
Senator HILLARY CLINTON (Democrat, New York): I think that I have both the track record, the depths of support and the understanding about how you put together those states that add up to the electoral majority that we need.
Mr. MITT ROMNEY (Former Republican Governor, Massachusetts): You're going to see change in Washington because America recognizes that we're not going to change the nation and have a bright future if we just send the same old people back to Washington and just different chairs. That's not going to work. We need new faces in Washington, and I intend to be one of them.
Mr. JOHN EDWARDS (Former Democratic Senator, North Carolina): We have four days. Four days in New Hampshire to decide what fighter are we going to send into that arena to be the next president of the United States.
BLOCK: Voters in New Hampshire often insist that they make up their own minds. They say they don't care about what happened 1,200 miles to the west. But as NPR's Robert Smith reports, last night's stunning caucus results in Iowa have gotten New Hampshire's attention.
ROBERT SMITH: If candidates get confused about what state they are waking up in, here's an easy guide. In Iowa, your breakfast is eggs and some part of a pig. Here in New Hampshire, it's…
Ms. CYNDI COBB (New Hampshire voter): Cranberry almond caramel pancakes.
SMITH: These candidates are going to gain some weight here?
Ms. COBB: I think so, yes.
SMITH: Cyndi Cobb is competing in a national pancake flip-off in Durham, New Hampshire. The candidates were all invited, but none so far have stopped by to show off their flip-flopping skills. That's okay. Cobb explains that here in New Hampshire, they like their pancakes fancy and their candidates plain.
Ms. COBB: Straight talkers. You need to tell it like it is. Don't try to mince words. Be straight.
SMITH: Cobb is a John Edwards fan, but like everyone in the restaurant, she wants to talk about Hillary Clinton's third-place finish.
Ms. COBB: I was shocked. I expected her to finish first.
SMITH: One of the surprises from last night's Iowa caucus was that actually more women ended up voting for Obama. And they…
Ms. COBB: Younger women.
SMITH: And younger women, yeah.
Ms. COBB: And older women tended to vote for Hillary Clinton, which I thought was really interesting.
SMITH: Do you see any of that here in New Hampshire?
Ms. COBB: No. I just — I still think she is a strong candidate.
SMITH: The only Clinton supporter in the restaurant is perhaps surprisingly the youngest person here, 22-year-old Kayla McCarthy. She's having her pancakes with a side of sour grapes.
Ms. KAYLA McCARTHY (New Hampshire voter): I don't even think caucuses are legitimate. I don't even think that we should be using that as a form of — essentially for the first one. I don't think we should be looking at that at all. So I think it's just important to remind people that this is the first primary. This is not — this isn't - caucuses, to me, I find they're a joke.
SMITH: Just about every voter I spoke to had a variation on this same theme. We don't care, they say, what Iowa says. We make up our own minds. Fine. But when you probe a little, you find that the results of the Iowa caucus do cause some mental shifts. Mason Cobb is 57-years-old and an independent. He was impressed by Obama's victory speech last night, and the win has made him re-examine the senator's chances.
Mr. MASON COBB (New Hampshire voter): I will think of him as a more viable candidate now, because he can win. He can win, at least in Iowa, he can win there. And I think he will come in strong in here. I was really surprised that he did as well in Iowa because of the people that are there.
SMITH: Although they may deny it, some New Hampshire voters have been keeping close tabs on the whole Iowa campaign. Michelle Croich is attending the pancake contest from Rye, New Hampshire. She's a Republican and feels like Mitt Romney acted differently in Iowa than he does when he's in New Hampshire.
Ms. MICHELLE CROICH (New Hampshire voter): A lot of the people don't like some of the comments that he's been making, a little bit, you know, brushing off, you know, just brushing off questions, not really answering them thoroughly. I mean, he just, you know, he's the politician's politician, if you will. And I don't necessarily follow along with that.
SMITH: She'll be voting for Rudolph Giuliani. And yes, she knows he came in sixth place in Iowa, and no, she doesn't care. Coming in first place, by the way, in the bedandbreakfast.com pancake competition is a long-shot, dark-horse entry.
Ms. JOANNE NICHOLS (New Hampshire voter): A lemon-blueberry ricotta-cheese pancake with a sweet lemon sauce, and then we're going to be garnishing it with fresh strawberries.
SMITH: Joanne Nichols of Rye, New Hampshire, denies that Iowa breakfast choices had any influence on her pancake.
Ms. NICHOLS: Whatever I decide, I decide, independent of anyone else's decision.
SMITH: That's the New Hampshire spirit.
Ms. NICHOLS: There you go. Absolutely.
SMITH: Robert Smith, NPR News, Manchester, New Hampshire.