New Hampshire Goes To Romney

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, generally regarded as the frontrunner, breezed through the New Hampshire election Tuesday as he notched another state under his belt in his quest for the nomination. 40% of voters chose Romney in the open primary, a number that becomes much larger when considering there were five other candidates vying for first and taking up votes.

A victory was largely expected for the former governor of Massachusetts, but with the margin that large the win is especially invigorating as his campaign moves onto South Carolina and Florida where polls have him leading by smaller amounts.

In his victory speech, Romney oozed confidence and exhibited the swagger of a presidential candidate. He wisely chose to avoid “attacking down” on his Republican competition and instead opted to go straight for President Obama. He called Obama’s jobs creation wrong and his executive record weak, then finished the energetic speech by promising that if he is elected President he will deliver in all the places Obama fails to now.

The other contenders proved their underdog status by focusing solely on Mitt immediately after the results came in. Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry, both former leaders in national polls, decided to attack Romney’s CEO career at Bain Capital. They attempted to portray Romney as a heartless and cutthroat businessman. This tactic will likely prove futile, as a majority of voters understand the process of firing and hiring in the private equity industry and recognize that Perry and Gingrich are simply instigating. Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman also strongly attacked Romney Wednesday, but all with tired jabs that Romney has easily dodged many times before. The only candidate who has not come out strongly against Mitt (at least thus far) is Ron Paul, arguably the one who should be on the offensive most because of his second place standing.

But even Ron Paul acknowledges Romney is the unquestioned frontrunner after New Hampshire, noting in his post-primary speech that in regards to Romney, nationally his campaign is only “nibbling on his heels”.

Indeed, with two decisive victories in only two elections, Romney’s nomination looks all but locked up. Barring a disastrous showing in South Carolina or Florida, it seems inevitable that the former governor, businessman and CEO for the Olympics will be running against Barack Obama for President in 2012.

- Kit

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January 13th, 2012 | Dan | Comments Off |