Clinton air of inevitability fizzles in primary

By Steve Holland - Analysis

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Democrat Hillary Clinton's shocking loss to Barack Obama in Iowa punctured the air of inevitability her U.S. presidential campaign had sought to project and left her in the political fight of her life.

The New York senator and former first lady, 60, must prove now whether she can get up after taking a punch. She faces her next test on Tuesday in New Hampshire, where fellow Democrat Obama, 46, has been threatening her lead in the polls.

Iowa was the first state contest for both the Democratic and Republican party nominations. The prize is valuable momentum and at least a temporary claim to the front-runner's slot in the campaign ending in a November 4 election.

The winner of the November election will succeed George W. Bush as president in January 2009.

"I think she's in a lot of trouble," said Merle Black, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta.

"The Clinton campaign has to do a lot of rethinking now," he said. "They're not out of it, and she may be able to recover."

Obama, a senator from Illinois who if elected would become America's first black president, rode a message of change to win the lion's share of Iowa's mostly white Democratic voters over Clinton, who finished third, slightly behind former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards, 54.

"Our time for change has come," an excited Obama told supporters after his victory became known.