Mitt Romney Makes History by Winning New Hampshire
Tonight, Mitt Romney won the New Hampshire primary. This makes Romney the first non-incumbent Republican to win the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire Primary. Romney is the clear favorite to win the 2012 Republican nomination.
He faced heavy criticism from the other candidates in the past 48 hours, specifically focusing on the issue of job creation and Romney’s time working for Bain Capital. The focus now moves to South Carolina for the primary on January 21st. Every candidate who has won the South Carolina primary has gone on to win the Republican nomination each time.
Congressman Ron Paul will finish in second. Even though Congressman Paul has no real chance of becoming the GOP nominee, he plans to stay in the race for as long as possible and focus on the other caucus states instead of the primaries. Jon Huntsman, who seemed to benefit as the “Not Romney,” candidate surge, wound up finishing in third and said tonight that he plans to stay in the race. Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum round out the top five with Rick Perry finishing at the bottom. As of 9 p.m. Tuesday night, no candidate has announced that they are dropping out of the race, but that could change in the next 24 hours.
So what does this mean?
Romney is still the clear favorite and inches closer to securing the nomination. A Romney win in South Carolina all but assures him the nomination in my mind. Ron Paul will continue to fight for his libertarian views and supporters. He has no chance to win the GOP nomination but it’s entirely possible he could run as a third party candidate come November. Gingrich and Santorum are basically splitting votes, and one would benefit from the other dropping out. Huntsman surged in New Hampshire but is the most moderate out of the bunch and doesn’t stand much of a chance. Rick Perry is essentially done, even if he stays in the race. All the other candidates will likely to continue to attack Romney in South Carolina, and someone other than Romney needs to win if they want to be in discussion for the GOP nomination in 2012!
First Republican since 1976. Not first ever. Losing at this point, unfortunately, would be unheard of. It’s just a shame the two horses I liked on the GOP side are done (Pawlenty, Huntsman). Good read!
Yes, since 1976, which was the birth of the first-in-the-nation status for Iowa and New Hampshire. So he’s the first in history to win it under the format we currently know. Huntsman was the only person i feel that could have challenged Obama nationally. But being Anti war, his china experience, pro civil unions,believes in evolution/global warming/science – he’s too moderate for the 2012 GOP field which is once again playing to conservatism.
[...] 2012 news, Mitt Romney on Tuesday won the New Hampshire primary becoming the first non-incumbent Republican to win the Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary. Mitt [...]