Top

New Hampshire Primary

January 9, 2012 by · Comments Off on New Hampshire Primary 

New Hampshire PrimaryNew Hampshire Primary, Romney rivals make final NH appeals: His pledge to stay positive in ashes, New Gingrich challenged front-runner Mitt Romney to account for his record as a corporate takeover artist Monday as Republican presidential hopefuls hustled through a final day of campaigning for the New Hampshire primary, a pivotal test for the rivals bidding to derail the former Massachusetts governor.

The candidates were all but tripping over each other, concentrating their day in the southern half of the state, known for holding town-hall meetings in actual town halls.

One exception, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, campaigned in South Carolina but joined Gingrich from afar in going bluntly after the front-runner’s private-sector credentials.

“I have no doubt that Mitt Romney was worried about pink slips ? whether he’d have enough of them to hand out,” Perry told several dozen breakfast patrons in Anderson, S.C. That was a slap at Romney’s recent comment that he worried about getting a pink slip during his executive career.

Perry cited South Carolina companies that downsized under the control of Bain Capital, the private equity firm Romney ran, and said it would be an “insult” for Romney to come to the state and ask for voters’ support in easing economic pain.

“He caused it,” Perry said, describing himself as best positioned to untangle the “unholy alliance between Washington and Wall Street.”

Among the half dozen contenders, Jon Huntsman, who needs a strong New Hampshire performance to stay viable in the race, planned perhaps the most frantic pace, with seven stops on his itinerary from Lebanon near the Vermont line to the seacoast.

The former Utah governor visited a Lebanon truck stop and took the phone from an employee behind the counter who was speaking with a milk delivery driver. He said he’s looking for votes wherever he can find them. “I’m the underdog,” he said, a label that applies ? at least in New Hampshire ? to anyone but Romney.

Knocking Romney off his perch Tuesday won’t be easy.

He has spent the better part of two years essentially adopting the state as his own and now holds a comfortable lead in pre-primary polls as his rivals essentially battle for second place. Romney won the Iowa caucuses last week by a scant eight votes over Rick Santorum.

New Hampshire Debate

January 7, 2012 by · Comments Off on New Hampshire Debate 

New Hampshire DebateNew Hampshire Debate, After 16 Republican presidential debates so far, a pair of nationally televised encounters this weekend in New Hampshire may be the most pivotal since Rick Perry’s “oops” moment as candidates move to block front-runner Mitt Romney and the Texas governor tries to salvage his campaign after a feeble finish in Iowa.

With the former Massachusetts governor running far ahead of the field in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary, three candidates – Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Perry – are desperate to consolidate conservative support and emerge as the top alternative to Romney when the presidential race heads south.

While the Granite State debates are taking place days before its first-in-the-nation primary on Tuesday, Perry and Gingrich will be aiming their remarks at voters in South Carolina, which holds its first-in-the-South primary Jan. 21.

“I think the debates are more important than the actual (New Hampshire) vote,” said Dick Bennett, president of American Research Group, a New Hampshire-based polling firm. “Even if it does not alter the race in New Hampshire, I think it will have some impact in South Carolina and beyond.”

Each candidate has high hopes for the ABC/Yahoo! debate at St. Anselm College Saturday at 8 p.m. and the NBC Meet the Press debate Sunday morning.

Santorum, the former Pennsylvania senator who finished just eight votes out of the lead in the Iowa caucuses, is hoping to convince voters he is an alternative to Romney.

Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor who has focused his entire presidential campaign on New Hampshire, is hoping to convince voters that he is a viable moderate alternative to Romney.

Bottom