The general election has just begun. Mitt Romney has taken on the mantle and the rhetoric of the Republican presidential nominee and started his race against President Barack Obama.
After a wild ride in Iowa last week, the New Hampshire primary held on Tuesday evening provided no surprises to voters and observers of the GOP race.
Romney pulled off a first-place win with 39 percent of the vote in the state which neighbors his former governorship. The former Massachusetts governor has deep ties in the Granite State and has long been a frontrunner in the fiercely-independent New England GOP bastion. While this percentage isn’t as high as some polls and political people had predicted, it’s high enough to cut off Ron Paul and choke off the last bit of energy from Romney’s rivals Huntsman and Santorum.
Romney’s speech was delivered in a measured manner with the assistance of a teleprompter; this is unusual for a primary night victory speech. That’s why this may be the beginning of Romney’s general election campaign – he’s rolling out the rhetorical flourishes to now begin to defeat Obama, as opposed to squabbling in the mired field of Republican hopefuls.
Texas Representative Ron Paul came in second, with 23 percent of the vote, and in his words, working to “nibble at Romney’s heels.” This percentage and Paul’s campaign cannot be ignored: he has galvanized youth and disenfranchised voters and brought new vigor, new debate and renewed dialogue into the fray. His campaign will not succeed in capturing the nomination, save a miracle, but his progress and top-three finishes make Paul a force to be reckoned with.
Former Utah governor Jon Huntsman, who gave up on Iowa and dismissed it as insignificant, saying “In Iowa, they pick corn. In New Hampshire, they pick presidents,” ended the evening with a disappointing third-place finish, with 17 percent of the vote. This comes as an unacceptable loss to the candidate whose only hope at winning a single delegate was in New Hampshire. His campaign will remain a minor factor from tonight on.
Rounding out the bottom of the GOP field was firebrand Newt Gingrich and “flavor of the week” Rick Santorum. Each man ended up with around 10 percent of the vote, despite millions in negative ads from Gingrich and his associates and a perceived surge in Santorum’s campaign due to his near-win in Iowa.
On from tonight, the race will travel to South Carolina. Historically, the state has picked nominees for the party, and if this holds true, then Romney’s win in the state will surely validate my claims and ensure his frontrunner status. Despite the delegate mathematics and formality of the presidential race from next week on out, Romney’s three-state sweep will give his campaign the boost it needs to escape the pack of “lesser” GOP candidates.
I predict South Carolina will be the end of Texas Governor Rick Perry’s campaign. He can fall on his Southern sword there and end his campaign with class. Newt’s attacks may continue, to the benefit of literally nobody in the party; all he can achieve with these futile and negative ads is providing fodder to the relentless and organized leftist machine.
