MORE TUESDAY COVERAGE Candidates tweak message for New Hampshire terrain Candidates charge onto N.H. airwaves Bradley appeals to independent New Hampshire voters Republicans look for spirited contest in N.H. Abortion issue dogs McCain in New Hampshire Caucuses over, presidential candidates flee to New Hampshire Tax issue boosts Forbes coming into New Hampshire Snow keeps Keyes from campaigning in N.H. Ad accuses McCain of working to cover up live POW data

Vice President Al Gore, former Sen. Bill Bradley, Texas Gov. George W. Bush and publisher Steve Forbes all scurried to the airport to board planes set to converge on the Manchester, N.H., airport about 2 a.m.

"There was just a mad rush of everybody at once," said Pam Dunston, who was on the flight desk Monday night at Signature Flight Support at the Des Moines airport.

"It was very busy because we had all their motorcades that had to get out to the planes, all their different press people, cameramen from NBC and everywhere trying to get out there" to the tarmac, she said.

Dunston said Gore, Bush and Forbes flew big planes loaded with press. There also were separate planes loaded with media.

"I think this year was probably bigger than the past ..." said Bill Flannery, aviation director for the Des Moines International Airport. "But January tends to be a slow month, and certainly ... airlines and car rental people do a nice business in January because of the caucuses."

Alan Keyes' entourage -- on a commercial flight -- was turned back by a snowstorm on the East Coast. After changing planes in Detroit, they were an hour out of Boston's Logan Airport when it was closed because of whiteout conditions. The plane returned to Detroit.

The former diplomat had planned to attend a fund-raiser in Keene, N.H., on Tuesday night, but met instead with Detroit-area media and appeared on several television news programs via satellite, said Keyes spokesman Peter Malvey.

Malvey said Keyes would be on a flight early Wednesday to participate in a debate in Manchester, NH. "We'll do whatever it takes to get the ambassador to the debate."

Sen. Orrin Hatch, who finished with a 1 percent showing in Iowa, crept quietly out of town. He was expected to announced Wednesday he was dropping out of the race.

At the Iowa Historical Building on Tuesday, NBC crews were still dismantling the two full-size studios they built on the museum's third-floor terrace to showcase the view of Iowa's golden domed Capitol. CBS crews, which had set up on the second floor of the Capitol law library, were still packing up Tuesday morning.