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NH2012

By Hunter Walker 1/10/12 11:55pm

NH2012

Ron Paul (Getty)

Ron Paul Promises To Defend Liberty In Spite of The Media

Ron Paul, who is projected to take second place in the New Hampshire primary, spoke to an audience at his campaign headquarters shortly after Mitt Romney made his victory speech. Mr. Paul criticized the media and political establishment for “ignoring” his campaign, but assured his supporters they’ll still succeed in their quest to “restore freedom to this country.”

“I called Governor Romney a short while ago before he gave his talk and congratulated him, because he certainly had a clear cut victory, but we’re nibbling at his heels!” Mr. Paul said. Mr. Paul began his speech by thanking his staff and supporters. He also gave a sarcastic acknowledgment to the New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper, which endorsed his rival Jon Huntsman.

“There was one other acknowledgment I wanted to make, I wanted to thank the Union Leader for not endorsing me,” Mr. Paul said. Read More

By David Freedlander 1/10/12 6:48pm

NH2012

Mitt Romney's New Hampshire Vacation. (Dale Stephanos)

Romney's New Hampshire Primary Shoe-In: The Race for Second Place Among the Also-Rans

At the time of this writing, the results of the New Hampshire primary and the Republican nominating contest are officially in doubt. At the time of this writing, the results of the Republican nominating contest, and to a lesser degree, the New Hampshire primary, couldn’t be more certain.

They weren’t decided Tuesday night; they weren’t decided in Iowa, and they won’t be decided in South Carolina in two weeks. The great secret of presidential campaigns is that despite two years of a carnivalesque drama, fluctuating poll numbers and maybe even a primary-night victory or two, it is pretty easy to tell who the winner will be once the field is set.

Did you really think Howard Dean would carry the Democratic line in 2004, even as he led all polls for most of the run-up to the voting? Did you really think Rudy Giuliani would be the Republican candidate in 2008, even as he opened up double-digit leads in state and national polls? Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter are anomalies; on the Republican side, the exceptions are nonexistent. The also-rans—the ones whose turn it isn’t—run for one of two reasons: either they hope to finish in second place, in order to the next guy in line the next time around, or they are running To Prove a Point—that America is about to be taken over by Mexicans, or that moral decay is imminent. Or, this time around at least, they run to raise their profile, make some money off of book sales, get a gig on Fox News. (Has Herman Cain ever made a business move that paid off as much as his aborted attempt to become the Leader of the Free World?)

But gamely they soldier on. Read More

By David Freedlander 1/09/12 2:03pm

NH2012

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Meet Randy Johnson, The Fired Bain Factory Employee Bird-Dogging Mitt Romney

As reporters and Mitt Romney supporters filed outside the gymnasium where the former Massachusetts governor had led a raucous rally ahead of the primary here Tuesday, Randy Johnson, a stooped and bearded man in late middle age, stood silently to the side and watched. Nearby, an operative with the Democratic National Committee directed reporters to him, where one by one, Mr. Johnson told them his story.

The 57-year-old described how he worked at a factory making office supplies owned by Smith Corona, which facing bankruptcy, sold his plant to another company, Ampad, that has recently been acquired by Bain Capital. Ampad promptly fired all of the workers at the plant, and then re-hired most of them. Since they were a union shop, and over half of the employees had been re-hired, the new owners were forced to recognize the union. They tried to renegotiate the contract, but the union eventually decided to go on strike, so Ampad shuttered the once-profitable factory. Read More

By David Freedlander 1/08/12 2:56pm

NH2012

Romney Campaigns With Pawlenty And Christie In New Hampshire

Mitt Romney Tells New Hampshire How He Backed Into Running for President

The sharpest exchange at the Republican presidential debate this morning came when Mitt Romney’s rivals attacked for trying to describe himself as something of an accidental politician who served just for a short while before picking back up his business career.

In fact, as both Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich noted, Mr. Romney has now spent nearly twenty years in and around politics, and has been saved from a longer career in office only by the fact that he lost election in 1994 and then began running for president in the middle of his first term as Massachusetts governor.

Today at a rally in Rochester, New Hampshire, Mr. Romney doubled down on the claim, casting himself as something of an accidental politician. Read More

By Hunter Walker 1/07/12 9:42pm

NH2012

Rick Santorum (Photo: Getty)

Rick Santorum: 'The Commander in Chief of This Country Isn't a CEO, It's Someone Who Has to Lead'

Rick Santorum went straight at Mitt Romney in tonight’s Republican Presidential debate in Manchester, New Hampshire standing behind comments he made earlier today that Americans don’t want a businessman like Mr. Romney in the White House.

“Of course I was talking about Governor Romney,” Mr. Santorum said. “He says, I’m going to be, I– you know I’ve got business experience.’ Well, business experience doesn’t necessarily match up with being the Commander in Chief of this country.” Read More

By David Freedlander 1/07/12 6:36pm

NH2012

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On Eve of Debate, Santorum Has New Hampshire Platform To Himself, And Uses It To Hit Mitt

NEW HAMPSHIRE–The five remaining contenders for the GOP presidential nomination are about to undergo the absurd exercise of sitting down for two debates in the span of about 12 hours. Thus, they spent most of today hunkered down in debate prep. Mitt Romney held one town hall at 8 o’clock in the morning, and was AWAOL the rest of the day. Ron Paul toured a diner, but mostly left the streets to his legion of his supporters. Newt Gingrich held a late morning town hall. Jon Huntsman was slightly more busy, but spent a lot of the day in the sparsely-populated northern reaches of the state.,

Rick Santorum meanwhile, practically had New Hampshire to himself, appearing in a panel discussion hosted by The Atlantic in the morning, stopping by two grocery stores in the afternoon, and hosting his own town hall meeting. Everywhere he went he was met by a crush of people and and near equal onslaught of reporters, and he used the spotlight to sharpen his attacks on Mr. Romney, who polls show is headed toward an easy win here tomorrow. Read More

By David Freedlander 1/07/12 2:48pm

NH2012

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Santorum Invokes Mussolini to Bash Obama

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum raised the example of his grandfather who fled Europe to escape the rise of Mussolini to make the case for why President Barack Obama should not be re-elected.

Mr. Santorum said that his grandfather was nearly killed on the Russian front fighting for the Hapsburg Empire, and that after the war, “he went to work and was raising his family and then he saw another emperor coming on the scene–Mussolini. And he said, ‘No more. I am not going  to have my children live in the service of emperor and sacrifice for an emperor. I am going to live in a country that believes in me, that I can I provide for myself and I don’t have to serve some sovereign.’ Ladies and gentlemen, we don’t serve sovereigns in America.” Read More