Jon Huntsman's New Hampshire Primary Finish Means Tough Road Ahead

Jon Huntsman's New Hampshire Primary Finish Means Tough Road Ahead.MANCHESTER, NH - A third place finish in New Hampshire was much better than Jon Huntsman, was scheduled for a few days ago, but it may still be far short of what it needs to continue his campaign.

The former governor of Utah is facing an additional set of problems which confronted him as he campaigned almost non-stop in the state where he staked his campaign. Here, we had to convince voters to ignore the national polls that have been ignoring it and pursue their own tendencies Maverick. South Carolina - where he hopes to capitalize on a split among conservatives and make the environment as the new alternative anti-Mitt Romney - and beyond, we have to do without the latest retail or land use.
It will also have to do while trying to reclaim the momentum of a good return for the third place winner.

It's not like Huntsman described the situation to his raucous party here.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I think we're in the hunt," Huntsman said, hundreds of supporters in a rousing "Join the Hunt" song.

In his speech, Huntsman has sought to contrast with the rest of the Republican field for the tribute he paid to the old party politics and New Hampshire voters by giving the individual attention they demand.

"We've proven the point that the state wants its candidates to win it the old way, which is the handshake of the soil by handshake, conversation by conversation, vote by vote. We succeeded, ladies and gentlemen, "he said.

Take more than 170 public events here; as it entered the race, Huntsman relies on his long and intense slog on the ground presence to deliver a strong performance primary for him. His showing here also hinged to the large number of independent voters in the state - the exit polling showed 4 of 10 unaffiliated voters were a record number - to give a critical boost.

But the factors that Huntsman was in third place here will not be on the other hand, if he continues to South Carolina - where he is scheduled for Wednesday for a series of events - and later in Florida.

While the former Governor and Ambassador has worked tirelessly in New Hampshire, ahead of all his Republican rivals, he spent time just focused on the rest of the state map at the beginning, and has little infrastructure in place in South Carolina. And in September, lagging in the polls and low on money - Huntsman moved its headquarters from Florida presidential campaign to New Hampshire, staking his entire campaign on finishing upset in the first-in-the nation -primary.

Read More

Mitt Romney Celebrates New Hampshire Primary Victory

Mitt Romney Celebrates New Hampshire Primary Victory.On Tuesday, Romney win gave a sweep first and second in the leadoff voting campaign 2012, for the first time any Republican besides a president, as the race moved to South Carolina Florida.

Conservative candidates who stand the best chance to stop there - former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Governor Rick Perry - were dragged back and it seemed unlikely that a major survey of its performances here.

Rep. Ron Paul of Texas was a second solid, but the expansion will have difficulty in showing in the states that are less favorable to the libertarian view on social issues and foreign policy.

Jon Huntsman Jr. was third weak, with only about half of Romney's share of the vote. The former governor of Utah, which concentrates most of his campaign in this state, insisted on moving forward.

Romney, who lost the state four years ago, tried to convey an air of inevitability to his nomination with a speech on Tuesday night celebration that focused more on the fall elections.

Speaking to a boisterous crowd of supporters in Manchester less than half an hour after the polls closed, the former governor of Massachusetts complained that President Obama "wants to put on a free trial." But it also had a hard blow to what he described as "desperate" Republican rivals, who have intensified their attacks on his record in private enterprise - a group that includes Perry, Gingrich and Huntsman.

"This is a mistake for us and for our nation," Romney said. "The country already has a leader that divides us the bitter politics of envy."

Romney, who flies to South Carolina Wednesday, he went directly to the voters of that state, urging them to make 2012 the year that Obama's presidency "run out of time."

Interviews of voters leaving their polling places showed a broad victory, sweeping the Republican Party favorite. He led most age groups, income and population, as well as voters across almost the entire political and ideological spectrum, including conservative supporters of the Tea Party. Among self-identified independents, however, Paul won the majority.

Romney leaders started there too, but the challenge promises to be much more formidable than New Hampshire, who was the former governor of Massachusetts to lose from the beginning. Unlike Iowa, where leaders come and gone over the polls, no poll showed Romney never less than a substantial double-digit lead in New Hampshire.

In South Carolina, however, Romney does not have what amounts to a home-field advantage - which is the sixth presidential Massachusetts hopes to win the Granite State neighbors - and will face a very different electorate in the South first primary next week.

South Carolina has a large and politically important bloc of evangelical voters. Romney will face resistance among some Christian conservatives who are suspicious, if not outright hostile to his Mormon faith. In New Hampshire, just 14% of those who voted on Tuesday, said to be a "true conservative" was the most important thing for them, far behind the economic interests cited by six in 10 voters, according to interviews election day by the television networks.

Romney also faces a tighter pack of runners.

After great struggle between them for the past few months, came after Romney in New Hampshire with a sudden ferocity, casting him in a debate on Sunday and beat him since most of his work at Bain Capital, the private investment firm was co-founder and the source of his personal wealth.

While citing his business experience as a virtue, especially in contrast to Washington's extensive resume most of his rivals, Romney's opponents have described him as a ruthless corporate raider touches work.

They were given a cane in his campaign on Monday with a comment torn from their original context: ". I like being able to fire people," Though Romney made the comments in relation to health and holding companies insurance, rivals seized on it as evidence of insensitivity.

However, Romney moves with many advantages, at least not a big advantage in money and organization of the campaign, which becomes increasingly important as the choice of shifts statewide races in Iowa and New Hampshire to a large number of state contests across the country.

Wins in South Carolina on January 21 and Florida 10 days later, everyone can, but make sure that Romney is going to the nomination, and sooner rather than later.

Part of its strength derives from the weakness of the opposition.

Each of your opponents has a special appeal for the segments of the Republican base - Paul with independent, Santorum and Perry with the conservatives, and Gingrich with voters looking for intellectual heft and a long view. None, however, offer a complete package, which has driven Romney, with the continued support of at least a quarter of the electorate in almost everywhere.

That could also benefit, as it did rattle victory last week in Iowa, where evangelicals and Tea Party acolytes split their votes among several contenders for the right, which Romney to prevail over a field of people.

Immediately, after Sunday's debate Perry retired to South Carolina, where Romney has been hitting in its action Bain. Paul, a congressman from the Houston area, will compete there too, but has said it will not make a great effort in Florida, which conducted the first major primary state at the end of the month.

Huntsman has also set his sights on South Carolina, but still has much ground to recover. Despite having invested early, has spent little time there lately and relatively centrist position is likely to play as well as they did in more moderate New Hampshire, where he carried the vote of the Democrats who passed on Tuesday. Florida would require a heavy investment in advertising dollars just to be better known to Huntsman.

"I would say the third is a ticket to ride," said Huntsman supporters. "Hello, South Carolina!"

Four years ago, another moderate Republican, former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani was a similar strategy, ignoring Iowa and make a last effort in Florida. He finished third weak and leave the campaign the next day.

Read More

For Santorum, Miles to Go Before He Sleeps

For Santorum, Miles to Go Before He Sleeps.MANCHESTER, NH - Despite the debate on Saturday night, Rick Santorum kept a busy schedule throughout the day. Usually, candidates will spend a day of debate in solitude with staff members, planning their strategies on how to deal with their rivals and the best way to have an impact on viewers.

This is especially true this weekend, during the return-to-back debates are scheduled for Saturday night and Sunday morning. They are the first debate since before the Christmas holidays and the first since voting began last week in the Iowa caucuses. They will also be the first to six, not seven candidates, as the Minnesota representative Michele Bachmann dropped last week.

All this means that if the candidates had much practice in discussions in recent months, the dynamics of the race have changed in many ways.

So far, Mr. Santorum was stuck on the sidelines of debates because its poor projections in the polls did not justify more clearly.

But since he lost the Iowa caucuses, Mitt Romney at a mere eight votes, is likely to share the stage on Saturday night with Mr. Romney. Having started to move in the polls, it is likely to face the attacks of his rivals not used.

If Mr. Santorum is preparing a strategy to adapt to a new discussion of his new popularity, it has to be connection between its many manifestations. His days are usually filled - on Friday, he ran an event across southern New Hampshire, making six saves, not including various interviews broadcast - and it provides almost as full a day on Saturday.

He started at a university forum at St. Anselm College on the economy and the middle class. He became more passionate as he took Obama to task for encouraging people to pursue higher education. Mr. Santorum called the excesses and arrogance, saying that if any of his seven children did not go to college, he would be happy for them to do something else.

After the forum, he had planned to go door to door in a neighborhood in Manchester to shake hands and ask residents for their votes. But he never showed up. About 20 protesters occupy Wall Street movements were preparing to demonstrate against him. It is not clear whether Mr. Santorum has been to avoid the demonstrators.

But it can be seen at the next event, where another demonstration is planned at the Homestead Deli in Amherst, south-west of Manchester. It is then a meeting at town hall style Hollis, further south in the most populous state, followed by a meeting-and-greet at the pharmacy, which is scheduled for 3:45.

Only then, he planned "down time" to prepare the debates.

Such a program reflects the intense demands of compression, primary six days here in New Hampshire, where voters go to the polls Tuesday. Every minute exposure helps, especially on a Saturday, which can help a candidate to advertise in the Sunday papers.

In addition, Mr. Santorum plans to rush to South Carolina, which votes next Sunday after the debate. Perhaps the debate and full Saturday schedule will be sufficient to feed the beast the media until he returns for the final push on the campaign Monday. And surely then, it will be another busy day.

Read More