Manchester, N.H. – Mitt Romney has won the New Hampshire Republican primary, achieving a sweep of the first two critical contests in the 2012 presidential race and boosting his chances at becoming his party's nominee this fall.
The New York Times and other news organizations declared Mr. Romney the winner in the race just moments after the polls closed at 8 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday, based on exit polls and early returns. The margin of his victory and the order of those behind him remain uncertain until more votes are counted.
Mr. Romney barely won Iowa's caucuses a week ago, besting Rick Santorum by a mere eight votes out of more than 100,000 cast.
Mr. Romney's second White House bid had been premised from the beginning on the idea that he could win in New Hampshire, a state he has all but adopted as his own in the years since Senator John McCain dashed his hopes here in the previous Republican primary.
Announcing his candidacy at a family farm in Stratham, N.H., last summer, Mr. Romney praised the state's voters for being the ones who kick off the political process.
“Every four years you decide who will give that State of the Union address, who will set the course of the country, who will be commander in chief,” Mr. Romney said that day.
Mr. Romney has led the field here for months, and in recent weeks seemed out of reach for his rivals, who trailed by double digits. But the contest here turned especially ugly in the last few days as several of his rivals attacked Mr. Romney's stewardship of an investment firm he founded.
Those attacks had seemed to chip away at Mr. Romney's lead after they were delivered to a nationwide television audience during an NBC “Meet the Press” debate on Sunday morning.
But polls released Tuesday morning suggested that Mr. Romney remained well ahead of the rest of the field as the state's voters began arriving at their polling locations.
Anticipating a victory by Mr. Romney here, his rivals have vowed to try to stop him in South Carolina, a state where evangelical voters and conservatives tend to have more sway than they do in New Hampshire.
But Mr. Romney's campaign advisers have expressed confidence in robust operations in South Carolina and other states. They have said they are ready for the attacks in future contests. And they have argued that they are prepared for a long fight to collect the needed delegates to clinch the nomination.
Truthout Is Preparing to Meet Trump’s Agenda With Resistance at Every Turn
Dear Truthout Community,
If you feel rage, despondency, confusion and deep fear today, you are not alone. We’re feeling it too. We are heartsick. Facing down Trump’s fascist agenda, we are desperately worried about the most vulnerable people among us, including our loved ones and everyone in the Truthout community, and our minds are racing a million miles a minute to try to map out all that needs to be done.
We must give ourselves space to grieve and feel our fear, feel our rage, and keep in the forefront of our mind the stark truth that millions of real human lives are on the line. And simultaneously, we’ve got to get to work, take stock of our resources, and prepare to throw ourselves full force into the movement.
Journalism is a linchpin of that movement. Even as we are reeling, we’re summoning up all the energy we can to face down what’s coming, because we know that one of the sharpest weapons against fascism is publishing the truth.
There are many terrifying planks to the Trump agenda, and we plan to devote ourselves to reporting thoroughly on each one and, crucially, covering the movements resisting them. We also recognize that Trump is a dire threat to journalism itself, and that we must take this seriously from the outset.
After the election, the four of us sat down to have some hard but necessary conversations about Truthout under a Trump presidency. How would we defend our publication from an avalanche of far right lawsuits that seek to bankrupt us? How would we keep our reporters safe if they need to cover outbreaks of political violence, or if they are targeted by authorities? How will we urgently produce the practical analysis, tools and movement coverage that you need right now — breaking through our normal routines to meet a terrifying moment in ways that best serve you?
It will be a tough, scary four years to produce social justice-driven journalism. We need to deliver news, strategy, liberatory ideas, tools and movement-sparking solutions with a force that we never have had to before. And at the same time, we desperately need to protect our ability to do so.
We know this is such a painful moment and donations may understandably be the last thing on your mind. But we must ask for your support, which is needed in a new and urgent way.
We promise we will kick into an even higher gear to give you truthful news that cuts against the disinformation and vitriol and hate and violence. We promise to publish analyses that will serve the needs of the movements we all rely on to survive the next four years, and even build for the future. We promise to be responsive, to recognize you as members of our community with a vital stake and voice in this work.
Please dig deep if you can, but a donation of any amount will be a truly meaningful and tangible action in this cataclysmic historical moment. We’re presently working to find 1500 new monthly donors to Truthout before the end of the year.
We’re with you. Let’s do all we can to move forward together.
With love, rage, and solidarity,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy