SALEM – Taxes, health care and the war in Iraq were on the minds of independent voters looking to size up Sen. John McCain yesterday afternoon, only hours away from the first-in-the-nation primary.

Moments into his stump speech, McCain was continuously interrupted by protestors calling for $50 billion towards HIV prevention in Africa. He confronted them, promising to call on one of their representatives during a question-and-answer session.

For independent voter Shirley Henning of Bow, McCain's handling of the situation was what made her decide to vote for him yesterday.

"I think (my decision) was a culmination, it wasn't any one thing," she said. "It was his demeanor and his approach to the crowd -- the adversarial nature of the people who were here with that whole confrontation and the way he managed it.

"Back in 2000, they were always talking about how he was a hotheaded guy," she said. "I certainly didn't see any of that today. He handled it very well."

Bob Jean of Northwood, an accountant who said he voted for McCain in 2000, was less excited about the Arizona senator's answers yesterday to his question about tax cuts.

"A lot of us independents are really teetering right now. I guess you are in purgatory right now," he joked during a public exchange with McCain after the two men went back and forth three times about the wisdom of Reagan-era tax cuts.

"The national press is saying independents are choosing between (Sen. Barack) Obama or (Sen.) Hillary (Clinton) or something like that, but I think a lot of independents are really trying to decide between Hillary and you or Obama and you," he said. "Independents are much less partisan than is being framed."

Jean afterward said he was still "not sure" about McCain's answers and needed more time to decide who he would vote for.

McCain has focused much of his campaign's attention in New Hampshire, virtually skipping an earlier caucus in Iowa where he took 13 percent of the vote. Looking to win voters over with his signature "straight talk," he took around 20 questions during his town hall meeting in the gym at the Woodbury School.

Anne Miller, an independent voter from Concord, told McCain she was worried that her soon-to-be-born son would have to fight in Iraq.

"The reason I asked the question was I saw he said at another town hall meeting that the occupation may last 100 years," she said. "I want to know if my son is going to have to serve in something he had nothing to do with creating."

After yesterday's event in Salem, she had seen all of the candidates in both parties except for Republican Mitt Romney. She said McCain did not win her vote yesterday, which helped her decide to instead vote in the Democrat primary.