Keyes' campaign officials have said in the past that they expect a third-place finish in New Hampshire, although polls show him in fourth place.

With a field of only two candidates, the Democrats have a different challenge ahead of them, Corbin said.

New Hampshire Democrats cast their ballots for the maverick centrist Democrat Paul Tsongas in 1992 and tend not to favor the candidate who has the most support of the Democratic Party.

"Within the liberal Democratic soul, there's something knocking on it that says, 'I don't want to be too establishment,'" Corbin said.

So the same voters who supported a centrist in 1992 could now support a left-of-center candidate, he says.

Bradley's advisers said the candidate plans to stick to his core themes of health care and campaign finance reform, which play well with New Hampshire independents.

His Harvard supporters say they don't think Gore's two-to-one margin in Iowa of victory will matter much to the independent voters in the state.