War veteran John McCain's battle to become president is gaining momentum after his victory in New Hampshire.

As his campaign moves to South Carolina - the next key state in Mr McCain's strategy - the New Hampshire effect seems to be paying dividends.

Opinion polls in South Carolina have consistently put George W Bush, the favourite for the Republican nomination, ahead by as much as 20 points.

But now the tide appears to be turning with a poll by Zogby showing the senator from Arizona overturning the massive lead. It says Mr McCain is in front of Mr Bush by five points but the poll has a 4.4 error margin.

Mike Murphy a strategist for the McCain campaign, said: "This is showing that the whole Republican race is shifting our way. Now we have a race."

In South Carolina there are a large number of veterans - a group that can be expected to listen to Vietnam veteran Mr McCain, and which his campaign team consider crucial to his chances.

Big money politics

On the campaign trail both leading contenders have been targeting the veterans' vote.

Mr McCain has been pushing his experience as a serviceman and a senator for Arizona.

He told a rally: "I'm qualified to lead. I'm fully prepared to be commander-in-chief. I do not need any on-the-job training."

Mr McCain has also been repeating his campaign theme of reforming the political system to reduce the influence of large party donors.

He said: "We're going to get this big money out of American politics, we're going to remove the corrupting influence, we're going to give the government back to you - and we're going give you a system that you can be proud of."

Ironically, since Mr McCain's New Hampshire win, his campaign team has reported receiving more than $740,000 in donations.

But that is still a drop in the ocean compared to Mr Bush's multi-million dollar war chest.

Mr Bush, the governor for Texas, was given support by a host of military figures at a rally in Fort Sumter, the site of a key US Civil War battle.

He pledged to "renew the bond of trust between the president and the military, active and retired".

Bauer speculation

But while New Hampshire has been good for Mr McCain it appears to have proved fatal for another Republican candidate, Gary Bauer, who polled less than 1% of the state's vote.

He has called a news conference for Friday at which he is widely expected to announce he is retiring from the race.

The two Democrat candidates have both been campaigning in California - Vice President Al Gore was in Los Angeles while Bill Bradley went to San Francisco.

California is the biggest prize in the Super Tuesday votes on 7 March when 16 states hold primaries or caucuses.