Romney Sweeps New Hampshire Primary

By Kurt Wagner

As the Republican presidential primary gains momentum heading into Super Tuesday on March 6, California Republicans may feel left out of the loop.

The traditionally liberal state has received little attention from the presidential hopefuls who have turned their attention to early primary states such as Iowa and New Hampshire. And with California's primary slated for early June, six months away and near the very end of the primary calendar, California's 5.3 million republican voters may be too late to make much of a difference.

At least that's what Mitt Romney is hoping.

Romney cruised to a solid victory in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday night, picking up steam from his first-place finish in the lead-off Iowa caucuses and firmly establishing himself as the man to beat for the Republican presidential nomination.

"Tonight we made history," Romney told cheering supporters before pivoting to a stinging denunciation of President Barack Obama. "The middle class has been crushed... our debt is too high and our opportunities too few," he declared — ignoring the rivals who had been assailing him for weeks and making clear he intends to be viewed as the party's nominee in waiting after only two contests.

His Republican rivals said otherwise, looking ahead to South Carolina on Jan. 21 as the  battleground to stop the former Massachusetts governor. Already, several contenders and committees supporting them had put down heavy money to reserve time for television advertising in the state. Even so, the order of finish — Ron Paul second, followed by Jon Huntsman, with Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum trailing — scrambled the field and prolonged the increasingly desperate competition to emerge as the true conservative rival to Romney.

With his victory, Romney became the first Republican to sweep the first two contests in competitive races since 1976. Based on partial returns, The Associated Press estimated that turnout would exceed the 2008 record by about 4 percent.

Returns from 69 percent of New Hampshire precincts showed Romney with 38 percent of the vote, followed by Texas Rep. Paul with 24 percent, former Utah Gov. Huntsman with 17 percent and former House Speaker Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Sen. Santorum with 10 percent each.

Romney had won in Iowa by a scant eight votes over Santorum, and gained barely a quarter of the vote there.

Seeking to undercut Romney's victory, Gingrich and others suggested in advance that anything below 40 percent or so would indicate weakness by the nomination front-runner.

They didn't mention that Sen. John McCain's winning percentage in the 2008 primary was 37 percent.

Romney's win was worth seven delegates to the Republican National Convention next summer. Paul earned three delegates and Huntsman two.

"Tonight we celebrate," Romney told his supporters. "Tomorrow we go back to work."

Unlike Iowa and New Hampshire, where unemployment is well below the national average, joblessness is far higher in South Carolina. That creates a different political environment for the race.

The state also has a reputation for primaries turning nasty, and it appeared that all of Romney's pursuers read the New Hampshire returns as reason enough to remain in the race.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who skipped New Hampshire to get a head start in South Carolina, said Tuesday's results showed "the race for a conservative alternative to Mitt Romney remains wide open."

About one-third of Republican voters interviewed as they left their polling places said the greatest factor in choosing a candidate was finding someone who could defeat Obama in the fall. Romney won their support.

Obama was unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Contact Kurt Wagner at jwagner@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4849. The Associated Press contributed to this report.