On the eve of the New Hampshire primary, Mitt Romney played down expectations and ramped up his biggest-in-the-Republican-field campaign machine, while rival John McCain told rally crowds across the state that he'll win today - even as the second bus in his fleet broke down.

Yesterday, McCain, an Arizona senator, and Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, criss-crossed the state, seeking a last-minute edge in a race in which Romney is the best-funded and McCain has topped recent polls - often by slight margins.

McCain, who held seven rallies yesterday, including two last night with crowds topping 500, sounded bullish.

"Nobody can buy an election here in the state of New Hampshire," McCain said, a veiled swipe at Romney, who has put millions of his own money into his campaign. "I don't care how many attack ads you buy. I don't care how many people you hire. . . . That's why we're going to win here tomorrow, because the people of New Hampshire have seen me."

Though Romney had long said his candidacy hinged on wins in early states, he's retooled that strategy since his second-place finish in Iowa's leadoff caucus to former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. Yesterday, he noted his finish in Wyoming's Republican caucus and argued that second place in New Hampshire would be good enough.

"If I come in a second-place finish, that will actually say that I am clearly one of the leading contenders," Romney said. "I will have come in second in Iowa, first in Wyoming, second in New Hampshire. That will mean that I probably have more votes than anybody else in those first three states."

And Romney sharpened a line he's been using for days about Sen. Barack Obama's upset win in Iowa's Democratic caucuses. That win shows voters want change - which, Romney said, makes McCain a weak general-election competitor.

"I think Barack Obama would be able to do to John McCain exactly what he was able to do to the other senators who were running on the other side" in Iowa, he said.

Meanwhile, other Republicans kept up the search for votes.

Huckabee, who has set his sights on third place in New Hampshire, spoke to a crowd of 400 at a pancake breakfast in Mason - and afterwards kept up a feud with Romney that was kicked up at the Fox News debates Sunday night. In an interview, Huckabee reeled off a list of misstatements Romney had made, saying Romney "makes it up as he goes along."

Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani shook hands at a Nashua diner packed with Democrats and spoke at two town hall meetings with crowds numbering about 100. And Rep. Ron Paul of Texas left the state yesterday to be a guest on the Tonight Show.

Getting out the vote

If Romney wins today, the key symbols could be a broken-down bus versus hundreds of cell phones. Yesterday, McCain's auxiliary press bus broke down, months after the campaign downgraded its famed Straight Talk Express because of cash shortages.

Meanwhile, the Romney campaign had rented extra office space and laid in 270 cell phones to boost phone-banking capacity. On Sunday, the campaign reached 50,000 voters with telephone calls or a knock on the door, said Jim Merrill, Romney's state director. Yesterday and today, Romney also deployed his five sons across the state.

At a 500-strong rally in Bedford last night, Romney described some family characteristics as told in a book about his great-great-grandfather.

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