Change is suddenly all the rage here in New Hampshire. All the candidates for the presidency have evidently decided that Barack Obama won in Iowa because he has captured the word "change". Now they all want a piece of it.

The presidential debates - which have just finished - featured an increasingly silly battle over this magical word. John Edwards, running third among the Democrats in the New Hampshire polls, proclaimed that he and Obama are both "agents of change". Hillary Clinton announced that "I embody change." And Bill Richardson, the fourth Democrat on stage, gushed that "I love change." Still, he obviously has some trouble keeping up with a changing world since he announced that one of his first acts as president would be to open negotiations with the Soviet Union.

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Well, it seems to me that the Iowa caucus has done two big things. It has narrowed the Democratic field for the White House down to two candidates - Hillary and Obama. And it has broadened the Republican field, giving both Mike Huckabee and John McCain a real shot at the nomination, and reviving the campaign of Rudy Giuliani.

Like the candidates, I am now poised to head for New Hampshire - although since the stakes are rather lower for me - I intend to pursue a slightly more leisurely schedule than John Edwards, who is apparently addressing a breakfast meeting there at 6.15 on Friday morning.

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