Rick Santorum NBC NH Debate Winner - photo Boston Globe: Read Article: "Rick Santorum known for outrunning expectations"
The NBC New Hampshire Debate which took place this morning had a bit more meat to it than last evenings date on ABC. There was a good back and forth between the candidates, and it was evident that Romney was the target – each of the candidates took aim and did, indeed make Romney appear as a Massachusetts Moderate. Questions poised to Romney from the moderators helped in their endeavors, and, as the replays of Meet The Press are being broadcast into Sunday Morning political junkies homes, it may help those 34% of New Hampshire undecided’s (Suffolk University Poll taken on January 6th which had Romney with a wide lead), change their minds about Mitt Romney, in a way they did in 2008 when McCain ran contrast ads on Romney’s record.
Clips from the Debate are available here at MSNBC.com - however, as sound-bites only.
New Hampshire, which has gone from a Democrat to moderate Conservative to Tea Party State, will go to the polls on Tuesday and the order of the candidates as far as first, second, third and fourth will be decided will be decided that evening. With primary states, the results should be in fairly early Tuesday evening.
Romney is favored to win, and it is more than likely members of the Massachusetts GOP, especially the newly elected Chair Robert Maginn, a staunch Democrat supporter will do all he can to aid Romney a part time Commonwealth resident. The prior statement was made not in fact, but in the spirit of a Massachusetts native who is tired of the “Country Club, Moderate, Republican State Party” as well as illusion created that the former Governor, Mitt Romney, somehow had a positive effect on those of us who were left here behind when he abandoned the State early in his governorship, to run for President in 2008. We were left with higher “fees” (i.e. taxes), a health care program that was indeed the model for “Obamacare”, and fewer jobs.
If the media feels Newt Gingrich is angry over statements made by Mitt Romney, then perhaps there should be a poll of Massachusetts residents who lived in the state during Romney’s tenure, including former members of the State GOP.
It will, when all is said and done, come down to South Carolina, and the top tier in that State will determine the balance of the entire campaign. It will matter who comes out of New Hampshire with a bump, as those candidates will be in a better position to raise funds going into the Southern primaries of S.C. and Florida, prior to Super Tuesday.
The debate did not have a particular clear winner, other than the fact that Santorum had the most time, as well as Huntsman, to answer Romney yet again; both Gingrich and Perry were credible and straightforward in their answers. Santorum is now the leading Conservative in the race based on his performance in the last two debates, it remains to be seen if that will translate into the same type of results come Tuesday.
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