The Other McCain

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NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY HQ UPDATE: Romney Wins; Ron Paul Second; Huntsman Third; Gingrich, Santorum Fight for Fourth Place

Posted on | January 10, 2012 | 79 Comments

MANCHESTER, N.H.
UPDATE 10:30 p.m. ET: Rick Santorum concluded his speech here by shouting, “On to South Carolina!” Indeed. But first, I’ve got a deadline for The American Spectator, and then there are friends awaiting my arrival at the bar at the Radisson Hotel.

After that, I’ve got a 12:30 p.m. Wednesday flight out of Boston’s Logan Airport, going home for a couple of days to see my wife and kids, rest up and eat home cooking. Hit the freaking tip jar!

UPDATE 9:43 p.m. ET: In a press gaggle just now, Rick Santorum campaign manager said they are prepared to spend $1 million for TV and radio advertising in South Carolina. They are also about to announce the addition of paid staff in Florida.

With 56% of precincts reporting, Santorum just moved ahead of Newt Gingrich for 4th place.

UPDATE 9:35 p.m. ET: Jon Huntsman: “Third place is a ticket to ride! … We got it done!” He talks about doing it “the old-fashioned way,” i.e. spending Daddy’s money. No campaign is going to be more damaged than Huntsman’s by the release this weekend of the FEC reports for the fourth quarter of 2011. And yet he’s going to go on to chew up more TV debate time and collect some percentage of the vote in South Carolina and Florida.

UPDATE 9:30 p.m. ET: We’re going to have to wait for Jon Huntsman to give his third-place “victory” speech before Rick Santorum speaks here. Journalists are finding ways to fill their time:

Reporters compulsively check their Twitter feeds on their 4G phones. The lady in the black-and-white coat is Shushana Walshe of ABC News.

Danny Yadron of the Wall Street Journal interviews Santorum supporters.

UPDATE 9:14 p.m. ET: Results with 39% of precincts reporting:

Mitt Romney ….. 27,980 (37%)
Ron Paul ………… 17,953 (24%)
Jon Huntsman … 12,797 (17%)
Newt Gingrich …. 7,576 (11%)
Rick Santorum …. 7,522 (11%)
Rick Perry ………… 551 (1%)
Buddy Roemer ……… 292 (0%)
Michele Bachmann ….. 105 (0%)
Herman Cain ………. 57 (0%)

The margin between Gingrich and Santorum is less than the vote for Herman Cain, who quit the race more than a month ago.

UPDATE 9:03 p.m. ET: Ron Paul in his speech: “I want to thank the Union Leader for not endorsing me” — a shot at Newt Gingrich.

UPDATE 8:57 p.m. ET: Associated Press headline:

Romney wins in NH,
cements front-runner position

We expect Rick Santorum’s speech here within 10 minutes.

Don Surber is evidently ready to roll over for the RINO.

UPDATE 8:40 p.m. ET: At 8:26 p.m., Romney pre-empted all his rivals’ concession speeches by giving one of the earliest victory speeches I can recall. He took a shot at Gingrich and Perry — unnamed “desperate Republicans” — and slammed Obama repeatedly. We are still awaiting the arrival of Rick Santorum here at his primary night celebration. He’s within 70 votes of Gingrich for fourth place with 23% of precincts reporting.

Santorum supporters sport their $100 sweater vests.

UPDATE 8:10 p.m. ET: Results updating fast and furious now. With 11% of precincts reporting:

Mitt Romney ….. 8,856, (36%)
Ron Paul ………… 6,126 (25%)
Jon Huntsman … 4,207 (17%)
Newt Gingrich …. 2,658 (11%)
Rick Santorum …. 2,419 (10%)
Rick Perry ………… 167 (1%)
Buddy Roemer ……… 108 (0%)

UPDATE 8:25 p.m. ET: Da Tech Guy is here doing his own coverage. CNN just declared Romney the winner — obviously — and is interviewing Jon Huntsman, who’s running a weak third in the state where he’s been campaigning non-stop for six months. Ron Paul is running a strong second. Roxeanne de Luca just showed up to vex me. Bryan Preston of PJ Tatler fame is here, and we’re thinking of making a run to Romneyland later this evening.

** PREVIOUSLY (6:58 p.m. ET) **

Television network satellite trucks parked outside
Rick Santorum primary night party, Manchester, N.H.

We are here at the Derryfield Restaurant for the Rick Santorum Victory Maybe Fourth Place Celebration and, conveniently enough, the Media Filing Center is located right next to the bar. It’s gonna take a lot of beverages for me to be able to avoid profound depression — and perhaps an episode of “arctic hysteria” — when the votes come rolling in tonight.

Mitt Romney, the sadistic RINO flipflopper who gets his jollies by firing guys like me, is the overwhelming favorite to win here, with The Ron Paul Survival Newsletter a distant second. According to the liberal media, however, the “Hunstman Surge” might challenge Paul’s hold on second place, which would mean that the best Rick Santorum can do is to beat Newt Gingrich for fifth place.

Polls close at 8 p.m. ET, but I figure I’d better start drinking early, if I hope to withstand my Greenlandic Innuit urge to go running around naked.

The National Affairs Desk, 6:30 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012

UPDATE: This exit poll data might be significant:

The polling showed undeclared voters made up a significant 44 percent of voters in the Granite State on Tuesday — that’s nearly twice the number of independents that showed up in Iowa last week. In that group, 30 percent said they were supporting Romney, while 29 percent were supporting Ron Paul and 27 percent were supporting Jon Huntsman.
Among late deciders, the line-up was slightly different. The exit polls showed 29 percent breaking for Romney, while 24 percent were backing Huntsman and 20 percent were backing Rick Santorum, who finished second in the Iowa caucuses.

Hmmm. If “late deciders” among independents are breaking slightly toward Santorum, does that mean that he’s locked down fourth place and Newt Gingrich will finish no better than fifth here?

UPDATE II: Linked at Fire Andrew Mitchell and by Bob Belvedere at Camp of the Saints — thanks! Meanwhile, although Ed Morrissey is right here in Santorum HQ, Allahpundit has the big “election results open thread” at Hot Air, this being The Squishy Night of RINO Joy.


Category: Election, Fear and Loathing in New Hampshire, New Hampshire

Comments

79 Responses to “NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY HQ UPDATE: Romney Wins; Ron Paul Second; Huntsman Third; Gingrich, Santorum Fight for Fourth Place”

  1. Anonymous
    January 10th, 2012 @ 7:11 pm

    When in doubt… curse in Mandarin.

  2. The Camp Of The Saints
    January 10th, 2012 @ 7:16 pm

    NH Primary Night Links: Live Free Or Die Hard…

    -Stacy McCain is live-blogging from Rick Santorum HQ, where the media center is located next to the bar. -Fox News has an automatically refreshing results by state and county page…….

  3. New Hampshire Republican Primary – January 10, 2012 : Fire Andrea Mitchell!
    January 10th, 2012 @ 7:22 pm

    […] other conservative news sites covering the New Hampshire primary: Hot Air, The Other McCain, Breitbart.tv, Ace of Spades. No TweetBacks yet. (Be the first to Tweet this […]

  4. Jorge Emilio Emrys Landivar
    January 10th, 2012 @ 7:32 pm

    It seems Romney is cleaning up on people who really don’t pay that much attention to politics.

  5. Mike G.
    January 10th, 2012 @ 7:56 pm

     If Santorum can’t carry a predominately Catholic state like NH, he will have a hard time in a Baptist state like South Carolina.

  6. Adjoran
    January 10th, 2012 @ 8:04 pm

    If you hate capitalism so much, you are in the wrong party.

  7. Mittsweep in New Hampshire « Don Surber
    January 10th, 2012 @ 8:24 pm

    […] Robert Stacy McCain is live-blogging from New Hampshire. He has been traveling the road to cover the race but after nearly a year of it, you have to wonder how much longer he should continue. […]

  8. Zilla of the Resistance
    January 10th, 2012 @ 8:44 pm

    I love how the enemedia declared their “winner” earlier when barely ten percent of the votes had been counted. Now there is still over 3/4 of the votes remaining to be tallied but everyone declares it all over because they are all so smart.

    Reminds me of how in 2008 they declared zero the winner long before the polls had even closed in all the states.  How many voters heard that it was all over and decided that their votes would not matter so they stayed home? It was a narrow election, those people might have made a difference.

  9. Anonymous
    January 10th, 2012 @ 8:54 pm

    Seriously.  The Bain attacks have been particularly depressing.  I’m glad that at least Santorum stayed out of that, though I’m not a huge fan.

    I may have to console myself in the voting booth when I vote for Ron Paul with imagining the panic in Europe and Riyadh if President Paul comes to be.  Hey, it’s only slightly less crazy than my last primary vote, which was the first of two votes that I cast against Obama.

  10. Anonymous
    January 10th, 2012 @ 9:04 pm

    http://evilbloggerlady.blogspot.com/2012/01/new-hampshire-2012-primaries-called.html

    I linked you.  

  11. richard mcenroe
    January 10th, 2012 @ 9:11 pm

    Linked. Heh. Heh. Heh.

  12. Hater
    January 10th, 2012 @ 9:13 pm

    this is such a terrible rambling Ron Paul speech

  13. Hater
    January 10th, 2012 @ 9:17 pm

    the polls were closed when they projected Romney the winner and the percentages are still essentially the same, it’s a small state…not sure what you’re getting at

    everyone bitches about Romney based on their arbitrary checklist of real conservative principles but who the hell else can win a national election in this field? it’s not “media manipulation” when it’s true.

  14. Romney Wins New Hampshire « That Mr. G Guy's Blog
    January 10th, 2012 @ 9:20 pm

    […] UpdateII; Stacy McCain has complete campaign coverage over at TOM. Share this:StumbleUponDiggFacebookTwitterRedditLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. […]

  15. ThePaganTemple
    January 10th, 2012 @ 9:21 pm

    I was hoping Huntsman would pull out a victory, or at least have a really, really strong second place showing. I want the guy to be able to go the distance so he can help dilute the Romney vote. But it looks like he’s done, so now we got only one squish against a field of conservatives. Geez, wonder how that’s going to turn out.

  16. ThePaganTemple
    January 10th, 2012 @ 9:25 pm

    Well how about hating the kind of regulatory climate that guarantees a stressed out market which enables the kind of predatory capitalism at which Bain excels and outside of which it could not be nearly as successful, assuming it could survive at all. More to the point, why should we believe a President Romney would promote the kind of regulatory reform needed to insure the healthy kind of market in which Bain could not thrive nearly as well?

  17. Adjoran
    January 10th, 2012 @ 9:26 pm

    Cain quit?  When?  I thought he just “suspended” his campaign, allowing him to continue to accept donations and pay his “political” expenses from the millions he collected.  As Christine O’Donnell demonstrated, you can even pay yourself a salary and fees from the money as long as you hold no federal office but at least go through the motions of seeking one or “exploring” the possibility.

  18. ThePaganTemple
    January 10th, 2012 @ 9:28 pm

    We need somebody who will succinctly identify the problem. That being that we are saddled with a President who is a filthy scumbag socialist traitor. Not one who is, as Mitt says “a nice guy who is in over his head”. The very idea that he honestly thinks Obama doesn’t know precisely what he is doing just proves that Romney is as fucking clueless as he claims Obama is.

  19. Adjoran
    January 10th, 2012 @ 9:29 pm

    I’ve been a tough critic of Ron Paul and his supporters, but I have to salute him for this.  He refused to betray the principles we all supposedly share by turning against capitalism for political advantage.  While Gingrich, Perry, and Huntsman use the sloganeering of the left, Paul went out of his way to stand up for capitalism.

    Good move, Doc.  That shows some class.

  20. DeborahL
    January 10th, 2012 @ 9:46 pm

    Who’s side are you on? Paul’s foreign policy is dangerous. Obama’s is the sneekier version.

  21. DeborahL
    January 10th, 2012 @ 9:49 pm

    Mark Levin talked about Bain last night. He gave the reasons why he isn’t against Bain, nor Newt’s purchases at Tiffany. Good enough for me.

  22. Mitt Romney Wins New Hampshire Primary – Updated | The Lonely Conservative
    January 10th, 2012 @ 10:01 pm

    […] soon to tell who will come in 4th, but right now Santorum leads Newt by about 30 votes.Update 4: Don Surber notes that Jon Huntsman has enough of Daddy’s money to stay in this thing until Super […]

  23. DeborahL
    January 10th, 2012 @ 10:02 pm

    I would rather have an honest race, than looking to dilute it with “squishies”.  Who is your candidate? And the second? I like Santorum, but if Mitt becomes the candidate I will vote for him, because Obama must be defeated.

  24. DeborahL
    January 10th, 2012 @ 10:05 pm

    When a candidate suspends their campaign they rarely resume. As for the money, why do you think Ron Paul is in the race?

  25. Adjoran
    January 10th, 2012 @ 10:08 pm

    Is it “predatory capitalism” when a company is going under and invites in a “White Knight” to try to save it?  Or when the “raider” insists their investment and return take priority if it doesn’t work?  Don’t like my terms?  Talk to someone else.

    But even the “raiders” – which is another type of M&A firm – serve a useful purpose, and salvage more value for investors and employees than they would get by just letting the company go bankrupt.

  26. DeborahL
    January 10th, 2012 @ 10:11 pm

    When did Gingrich, Perry, and Hunstman do the charges you made? Ron Paul has some good economic ideas, but his dangerous foreign policy works for the Left. In the instance you describe, I’d say it was “the blind squirrel finding the nut.” Or is that the nut finding the blind squirrel.

  27. Datechguy's Blog » Blog Archive » Axis of Fedora Update Manchester 6:35 P.M Derryfield Resturant (Santorum party) » Datechguy's Blog
    January 10th, 2012 @ 10:23 pm

    […] Update 4: Further coverage on twitter by Ed Morrissey and Stacy McCain […]

  28. Adjoran
    January 10th, 2012 @ 10:24 pm

    Well, this about cinches it for Romney, who was never even touched on his biggest weakness – the typical corporate suit’s tendency to go along with any “green” scam just to shut them up so you can get back to business.  Vulnerable on cap-‘n’-tax and “climate change” stupidity.  Gingrich couldn’t do it, ’cause he’s even worse about that crap.

    But Perry or Santorum might have nailed him on that.  Instead, Perry went with Gingrich on this leftist anti-capitalist ranting.  Some whine, “Can’t we criticize Bain?”  Sure if you have a real case where they did something wrong.  Perry’s on right now BSing on companies Bain liquidated in SC, calling it “vulture capitalism,” just like some OWS filth.  That’s what Newt is doing, too.

    We already have a President who thinks capitalism is immoral, thanks very much.

    So we are left with Romney, it seems.  The others with the requisite executive experience have all either fizzled, dropped out, declined to run, or disqualified themselves with love letters to Obama.

  29. Adjoran
    January 10th, 2012 @ 10:24 pm

    Oh, Gingrich apparently thinks he can entice black Democrats to cross over for him in SC:  http://tinyurl.com/7v5bnwn

  30. Joe
    January 10th, 2012 @ 10:26 pm

    I respect Santorum for not going there.

  31. richard mcenroe
    January 10th, 2012 @ 10:28 pm

    Besides, he’s already got his newsletter and his vote against his own earmarks trick to clean up off.

  32. ThePaganTemple
    January 10th, 2012 @ 10:50 pm

    You didn’t answer the question. Can Romney be trusted to enact or try to pass the kind of large-scale regulatory reform the country as a whole needs? Bear in mind its the current regulatory climate that makes it orders of magnitude harder to succeed as a business enterprise more than any other single outside factor, or combination of factors.

    But its still the kind of climate under which Bain excels. Why in the hell should I trust Romney to reform it to any significant extent?

  33. Adjoran
    January 10th, 2012 @ 10:54 pm

    He’s walked the line pretty close a couple of times – but won my respect by refusing to mischaracterize the “I like being able to fire people” remark.

    His attempt to reach out to the gay community through sweater vests is weak, though.

  34. ThePaganTemple
    January 10th, 2012 @ 10:54 pm

    I wish there really were unicorns and rainbows that lead to pots of gold, but those things are unfortunately as non-existent as any “honest race” in politics. The whole point of diluting it with squishes is for the squishes to dilute each other. We have one squish taking all the moderate vote, and four conservatives dividing up the conservative vote. If you’re for Romney, I can see where that would be just fine with you, but don’t expect me to be happy with it.

  35. Adjoran
    January 10th, 2012 @ 11:09 pm

    No President can effectively cut the size of government without Congress taking the lead.  If we want reduced government, people are going to have to be laid off, which is why I think Romney can do it and will be a one-termer because of it.

    Regulatory reform is necessary but has always proven impossible without congressional leadership or at least cooperation.  Bottom line is:  any Republican President except maybe Paul will sign the bills if Congress passes them.

    Romney’s wheel house is implementing efficiencies and getting rid of dead wood.  He’s not the vision guy, but he can do the job.

  36. Adjoran
    January 10th, 2012 @ 11:11 pm

    Obama’s personal approval is much higher than his job approval and “deserves reelection” numbers, so it makes sense to depersonalize the campaign to attract people who still like him but not his results.  They could make the difference.

    I can still hate everything the creep stands for, though!

  37. Adjoran
    January 10th, 2012 @ 11:12 pm

    His mind is one place I’m not sure I want to go.

  38. Adjoran
    January 10th, 2012 @ 11:14 pm

    I’m against his insane isolationism, but he defended capitalism.  If you missed the others spewing OWS slogans, just stay tuned – Perry has already doubled down in SC, calling Romney a “vulture capitalist,” although at this point I doubt he even knows what that really is and why Bain isn’t one of those firms, but followed the “White Knight” model.  Which didn’t mean companies still didn’t fail or people weren’t laid off, but that they were almost always invited in by management hoping to save their firms.

  39. Adjoran
    January 10th, 2012 @ 11:16 pm

    I don’t think he does the newsletter any more.  But he has been talking up gold for 30 years and his entire net worth is in gold and mining stocks, so he’s doing okay right now.

    Of course, True Believers will never sell, so much of his profit will disappear eventually.

  40. Guest
    January 10th, 2012 @ 11:23 pm

    If Mitt’s hand is to trumpet his time spent in business- working for Bain, in other words- then his tenure in Bain is open for examination and criticism, just like Perry’s tenure as governor and Ron Paul’s Storm Front connections.
    Also, if Mitt had wanted to be shown respect he probably should’ve started by showing respect to the other candidates.

  41. The Wondering Jew
    January 11th, 2012 @ 12:06 am

    Agreed 🙂 And Kudos to both Paul and Santorum for not taking the bait

  42. The Wondering Jew
    January 11th, 2012 @ 12:09 am

    Great win tonight for both Romney and Paul.  Tough result for Santorum, though not disqualifying.  Bad for Gingrich, especially with the Union-Leader endorsement.  And brutal for Perry.

    And lets hope this finally buries the media-generated candidacy of Huntsman, though I suspect his friends in the MSM will do anything to keep his candidacy afloat.

  43. John
    January 11th, 2012 @ 12:56 am

    So Romney is at the top of the GOP ticket.  The media worked hard to pave the road for their guy.  Lowry, Rubin and Ponnurru helped set the narrative for Bachmann (shrill), Perry (stupid) and Gingrich (unstable).  Dole, Bush, McCain and now Romney.  Insanity.

  44. Anonymous
    January 11th, 2012 @ 1:08 am

    Oh here is Debbie Wasserman Schultz again, post election.  

  45. Pathfinder's wife
    January 11th, 2012 @ 1:14 am

    They went after Romney from the left in their attacks on the Bain thing.  I’m not thrilled with the idea of corporate raiders, but their attacks could have been scripted by Axelrod.

    Considering the rhetoric of their stump speeches, this smacks of 1) desperation; 2) saying anything to win.

    It was really a stupid blunder on all their parts — smart of Santorum and Paul to stay out of it.

  46. Denverwindowwashing
    January 11th, 2012 @ 1:23 am

    “Gingrich, the chief architect of GOP Contract With America, has been a lightning rod for controversy ever since he steered his party to the majority in 1994 and took control of the speakers gavel.”

    I am sure Mitt has, and will, make bold choices liberals hate.  He’s got a long record.

  47. Adjoran
    January 11th, 2012 @ 2:48 am

    They aren’t “criticizing” any particular transaction.  They spouting OWS slogans against capitalism.

    Newt nor Perry has the expertise to evaluate Bain’s specific actions in any given case any more than they are qualified to comment on quantum physics.  But we know this:  of the 77 turnaround projects on Romney’s watch, 60 didn’t need to go into bankruptcy, 11 did but survived, and 6 failed and Bain lost their entire stake.

    Did some people get laid off even in the successes?  You bet! Is that better than ALL jobs lost, investors wiped out, company closed, community loses taxes, etc.?  To leftists, that’s better than someone making money off of saving them.

  48. Adjoran
    January 11th, 2012 @ 2:53 am

    It seems to me Perry did his own “stupid” – the fanfare in the media was all positive before he jumped in.  Stacy predicted he would fall on his face.

    Gingrich was a nasty little man before Lowry started having his testicles waxed, he was tossed out by conservatives in the GOP House caucus tired of his crap.

    Bachmann killed herself with Tardisil.  No one could take her seriously after that.

    Why does everyone think the “Establishment” and “conservative media” have all this power?  The fact is that weak candidates don’t need any help in self-destructing.

  49. Anonymous
    January 11th, 2012 @ 5:11 am

    As a resident of Virginia, my choices are currently Romney and Paul.  We’ll see what happens with the lawsuit.

    Also, I’m more or less assuming that Romney will have a McCain-like grasp of the nomination by the time I can vote, and a Ron Paul protest vote doesn’t sound so bad.

  50. Anonymous
    January 11th, 2012 @ 5:15 am

    Your premise is flawed.  There will always be firms on the edge of failure, even during the best of economies with the best of regulatory environments.

    The underlying question is good, but your framing of it makes you sound like Keith Olberman.

    It’s difficult to imagine a President tearing down the vast edifices of executive power once he’s in office.  Not impossible, but as @yahoo-EU5DQWQTTHTPO4A4ZYSL3AAV2U:disqus says, it’s gonna have to be Congress, in its Constsitutional role as the actual source of legislative power, to take back what it gave to the executive.  I’m not holding my breath, and I don’t have great confidence that Romney will attempt much there, let alone accomplish much.