CONCORD [-] Presidential nominees to be Barack Obama and John McCain are locked in a dead heat in New Hampshire according to an independent poll on the eve of McCain’s return to this key swing state Tuesday.

    Obama leads McCain among likely voters, 46 percent to 43 percent but that is within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percent.

  “Neither Obama nor McCain can claim to have a hold on the New Hampshire electorate. The state will be a swing state in November,” said Andrew Smith, Director of the UNH Survey Center.    “Both candidates have real opportunities to sway independent voters to their sides between now and the election.”     In this survey, three percent picked another candidate and the other eight percent were undecided.

    UNH conducted the poll of 475 likely voters by telephone July 11-20.

    Two months ago, McCain had led Obama, 49 percent to 43 percent in the same survey known as the Granite State Poll.

     McCain is scheduled to return for a town hall style forum in Rochester later today.

   "This poll reflects the already well-known fact that New Hampshire is a competitive state. John McCain has a special relationship with Granite State voters, who know that he has long put his country ahead of politics,’’ said Jeff Grappone, McCain’s New England communications director.

    McCain began airing a new TV ad in the state that claims his opponent is responsible for high-energy prices because Obama opposes offshore drilling, a federal gas tax holiday this summer and is critical of McCain’s plan to dramatically expand nuclear power.

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