A Lucky Nickel

John McCain is a man who looks for good omens. A few days ago, the Arizona senator was on his way to a town hall in New Hampshire when he spotted something shiny in the street outside his bus. Bending over to take a closer look, he noticed it was a nickel—but not just any nickel. It was a nickel with its head up. Notoriously superstitious since his days as a Navy pilot, McCain quickly picked it up and stuffed it in his pocket. "I need any luck I can get," McCain said, showing off the coin to a group of reporters earlier this week.

But that wasn't the only bit of superstition McCain observed heading into Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. Along with the nickel, McCain carried his lucky compass and a lucky penny. (His lucky feather and his lucky rabbit's foot are back in Arizona—or so he tells his staff.) On Monday, McCain's wife, Cindy, wore purple—her lucky color. And the couple has been staying in the same room in the same hotel they stayed in when McCain won the state's primary back in 2000. In the room, he slept on the same side of the bed as he did eight years ago.

To his nervous dismay, McCain missed out on one Election Day ritual he has been heeding since he was elected to Congress more than 20 years ago: It is McCain's tradition to go to the movies on the afternoon before the votes are counted. McCain was supposed to do it on Tuesday, but his schedule was too tight, aides say. Privately, McCain worried. Was it enough to throw off his karma? But then an aide reminded him: Back in 2000, he missed a movie on Election Day because he fell asleep. Was it a sign?

Whatever it was on Tuesday—luck, fate or just being in the right place at the right time--McCain wound up on top in New Hampshire, giving his once-struggling presidential bid a very important push into the all-important states of Michigan and South Carolina. But now comes the hard part.

While McCain will no doubt get a major boost from his win in the Granite State, his aides admit the Arizona senator has a lot of ground to make up in not very much time. His campaign's collapse last summer emptied McCain's bank account and cut short his efforts to mount strong organizations in states leading up to the Feb. 5 Super Tuesday votes. But his campaign did make one smart decision: while McCain strongly considered it, his campaign has so far not taken public funds, which would limit the amount of money he can spend in upcoming states. Late December was a good fund-raising period for McCain, and now aides plan to go back to donors and ask for more support now that it appears there is wind to McCain's back.