Voting underway in key US primary
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Barack Obama is ahead of Hillary Clinton so far (File photo). (Reuters: Tami Chappell)
Voting has begun in the presidential primary in New Hampshire - the second US state to select the two major parties' nominees for president.
The hamlets of Dixville Notch and Hart's Location opened their polling stations at midnight, local time.
Both recorded small, early victories to Barack Obama for the Democrats and John McCain for the Republicans.
Other polling booths are now open, and a result is expected some time after 12:00pm AEDT tomorrow.
The Democrats' Hillary Clinton, who caused a stir by looking exhausted to the point of tears on the last full day of campaigning, will carry on fighting even if she comes second in the New Hampshire primary, but she would no longer be the frontrunner.
If Senator Obama wins, the nomination will be his to lose.
His achievement in getting to this stage and becoming the most successful black candidate in presidential history has been saluted by two prominent black Republicans: former secretary of state Colin Powell and the incumbent, Condoleezza Rice.
- BBC
