Mitt Romney, John McCain Both Predicting Wins in Granite State
Mitt Romney and his wife Ann greet voters at a polling station in Derry, N.H., Tuesday. (AP Photo)
Mitt Romney enthusiastically predicted a win in the GOP New Hampshire primary Tuesday, looking to beat expectations and polls that have shown rival John McCain edging out Romney in the Granite State.
Having downplayed expectations by discussing second place the day before, on Tuesday Romney was talking about a win and promising to soldier on regardless of the outcome.
“I’m planning on winning today, no guarantees , but I’m planning on winning and I can be pretty sure that by the end of today I will have received more votes for president than any other Republican,” Romney said in Salem.
McCain, too, had predicted a win 24 hours earlier. He was cautious on primary day, but projected a similar message of persistence … win, lose or draw.
“It’s very important we all know … how important New Hampshire is to our campaign and there’s no sugar coating that,” the Arizona senator said. “It’s absolutely important … Absolutely we are continuing on and we anticipate to win.”
Voting Tuesday was predicted to achieve record turnout as warm weather and high interest swirled together to create energized polling sites.
The former Massachusetts governor made his last stop of the day in Derry with his wife Ann at a middle school, delivering an optimistic message.
Romney spoke about a broken Washington and the need to elect fresh faces, and even predicted the possibility of three different winners in the first three states to select delegates for the presidential conventions next summer. Mike Huckabee won Iowa last Thursday, Romney won Wyoming on Saturday. He left open the possibility that McCain could take New Hampshire and he would place second.
“I think it’s probably going to come down to two people,” he said. “I believe I’m going to be one of the two. We’ll see who the other person is. And we’re going to be battling for quite awhile.”
Following his win in the tiny, early-voting town of Dixville Notch, N.H., just after midnight on Tuesday McCain offered his usual dry humor to make a prediction.
“We’re optimistic about the outcome today, and after a landslide victory in Dixville Notch last night, 4-2, there’s no way that we can stop this momentum,” he said.
Dixville Notch had just 17 voters, and McCain won with four of them. On the Democratic side, Barack Obama won with 7 votes.
Candidates began to wrap up their New Hampshire polling place visits Tuesday afternoon, with most polls closing around 7 p.m. ET, and all finishing by 8 p.m.
Pre-election polls shows Obama continuing to lead in New Hampshire among the Democratic candidates. Rival Hillary Clinton powered through her campaign stops Tuesday with a sense of urgency, seeking to recover her one-time frontrunner status.
She earlier pledged a daylong blitz to get her supporters out to the polls, even as the campaign played down expectations for her finish in New Hampshire. Senior Clinton advisers told FOX News that a shake-up could be on the horizon, and that former Bill Clinton advisers James Carville and Paul Begala may be brought on to assist the campaign as early as Wednesday. Begala and Carville deny this.
The New York senator hit her final polling spot of the day at a school in Concord. There she met with throngs of elementary school kids and even supporters of GOP candidate Ron Paul, whose “End the war!” and “Ron Paul!” chants seemed to drown out those attempting to shout for “Hillary!”
Clinton was expected to end the day at her hotel in Concord, where she was to stay until an evening speech in Manchester.
With polls looking up for Obama, the Illinois senator at a stop in Manchester refused to relinquish the underdog spirit that has defined his campaign.
“My name is Barack Obama. I am never a frontrunner,” he said. “I am always the underdog.”
Meanwhile, supporters chanted John Edwards’ name as he left a polling site in Manchester. He placed second in Iowa.
“I feel great. I feel good,” the former North Carolina said, hoping Clinton would be sufficiently weakened Tuesday to give him an opening.
After a win in Iowa, Huckabee too was hoping for a strong finish in New Hampshire. In Bedford, he tried to sell his outsider image to voters.
“People are so disgusted and frustrated with Washington as it is and I don’t think someone in Washington will be able to get the job done,” he said. ”And I think someone who has a lot of years of practical experience of making government work but also bringing fresh integral change is important.”
Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani also made a swing through Manchester, but has already said he’s banking on the bevy of states voting Feb. 5 to carry his candidacy. Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson has already conceded a New Hampshire loss publicly and spent the day Tuesday in South Carolina.
With the temperature in Manchester at 60 degrees, the rare thaw has voters teeming at the polls. New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner predicted turnout at about a half-million, with 260,000 for Democrats and 240,000 for Republicans. That total would be 100,000 more than the all-time primary record.
Gardner had said he was worried that some areas will run out of ballots, even though no polling place did. Vans carrying extra ballots had been dispatched to select areas that could have run low, just as a precaution, but new ballots were not being printed.
As the 2008 presidential field stormed the state, feeding their staffs and pumping up their supporters with caffeinated beverages along the way, only a few unrevealing results had trickled in, namely that of the small northern town of Dixville Notch.
And survey results are showing that the Democratic vote might be slightly less predictable than the Republican one, according to the latest FOX News/Opinion Dynamics poll: 55 percent of independents plan to vote Democratic, and 45 percent said they’ll likely vote for a Republican. In New Hampshire, independents can choose to vote in either primary.
Which way are the winds blowing? On the Democratic side, it looked like the independents were breaking for Obama. In the Jan. 4-6 poll of 500 likely GOP voters, 500 likely Democratic voters with a 3 percent margin of error, 35 percent of independents likely to vote Democratic said they favored Obama, while 26 percent said they planned to vote for Clinton.
Click here to see the full FOX News/Opinion Dynamics poll.
Edwards took 18 percent of the likely independent voters, but the outcome is by no means assured. There are another 10 percent of declared independent voters who said that while they planned to vote for a Democrat, they weren’t yet sure for whom.
On the Republican side, the FOX News poll shows a strong tilt toward McCain — who carried the state in 2000 — with 34 percent independent support, followed next by Romney, with 22 percent. The GOP Iowa caucus winner, Huckabee, comes in third at 14 percent.
But another possible monkey wrench for the Republicans is that 12 percent of independents said they remained undecided.
FOX News’ Carl Cameron, Serafin Gomez, Cristina Corbin, Bonney Kapp, Aaron Bruns, Shushannah Walshe and Malini Bawa and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Mitt Romney is a slicked-back BS artist. I wouldn’t trust him to walk my dog. He changes his positions on issues more often than I change my underwear. That’s the last thing I want in the White House these days.
Although I might not agree with John McCain on every single issue, I trust him to level with me and to do what he believes to be right, not what’s politically expedient at the time. I also like him because he has the foreign policy experience needed in a president and he has a history of fighting pork barrell spending in Washington. Finally, let’s not forget that he was the ONLY one of the current crop of candidates, Democrat or Republican, who wasn’t looking for a way to cut & run away from Iraq back in January of 2007. Without the increase in troops, change in leadership, and change in counter-insurgency strategy that he and a very few others bravely championed, we would not be seeing the remarkable progress in Iraq that we are seeing today.
McCain is, quite simply, a stud, just like Ronald Reagan was. I will be proud to cast my vote for him in California’s primary on Super Tuesday.
Floyd, 6:37pm: A president is not expected to do everything himself or herself. Great leaders surround themselves with great staff members, and they all have competence. Then they excel at gathering pertinent facts and making wise and timely decisions. This was one of the central points Romney made Sunday night, for those who bothered to really listen. From his 30 years with his corporation, to governing the State of MA, to absolutely SAVING the previously scandal-plagued and sinking fast 2002 Winter Olympics and pulling off one of the most successful Winter Games of all time, Romney not only looks and acts the part of a true leader, his record shows that’s what he is. He has not attacked anyone personally, but contrasts their records with his and with what they are now saying. He even starts out by saying they are honorable men and Americans. Contrast this with the personal attacks on Mitt and his religion that Huck and McCain have stooped to. There is a reason he looked like he was in control Sunday night. He was. When the dust settles and all the garbage is sorted out and seen for what it is, and the religious bigots see their hate exposed for what it is, Mitt will be the one standing there still looking (and acting) good. Study the records, folks. If his religion bothers you, go to Mormon.org to learn more about it, not some preacher who can’t say “Mormon” and find his buttocks with both hands at the same time. The issues are too important to listen to the lies that are out there about Mitt Romney. GO, Mitt!!
Gov. Romeny’s flip flopping on immigration has been disappointing. He so flatly denied endorsing the McCain plan and then called it amnesty. He said this very convincingly. I only recently found out that he did endorse the plan and even said that it was clearly not amnesty.
He has gone on to deny a number of things. Which are real, which are not? In the end I fear the answer is Gov. Romney.
I have yet to hear Mike Huckabee address a critical issue head on. Every time I hear him speaking it is a quip, a joke, a defensive attack on another candidate or a gaffe on foreign policy that makes him look like an unintelligent hick. He is not presidential and would get ROASTED by the Obama inferno.
Contrast that with Romney who RARELY makes any personal comment about another candidate and NEVER wastes time on random, irrelevant jokes and quips. Every time Romney speaks it is pointed and focused like a laser beam on some critical issue. People like to accuse him of being “negative” when he is simply bringing up accurate details about another’s record. The day we are not allowed to contrast each other is the day our election becomes a joke. Huckabee would have every ad be relegated to fuzzy, feel good moments that have no substance on issues, only pure FLUFF.
Voters are beginning to realize that Romney handles issues better. Hannity was saying today that McCain and Huckabee are taking a lot of heat for their UN-conservative records. Romney has a DUTY to call them out on it. If Huckabee doesn’t like it then he shouldn’t have made those decisions. It has been verified that Romney’s ads were carefully researched and were absolutely accurate. DEAL WITH IT.
Can anyone explain to me who exactly this ‘president’ is?
Plain and simple, Romney understands how the American economy works. Please be open-minded on this. He has been tested in the business world and been very successful even amidst some difficult situations. He knows how to talk to people… He understands the art of negotiation and is willing to draw a line in the sand and close the deal. Did you watch the weekend debates? We need that kind of calm control sitting at the head of the table when we are butting heads with China and Iran or N. Korea, not to forget the threat of radical Isam.
Sunday especially, he commanded the forum. He served without pay as the Governor of Mass. as well as the Olympics and in his youth he served (without privledge) people other than his friends and family for two years.
He is spending his own money and sacrificing his time and energy for a cause greater than himself. He looks pretty unselfish in this light. I am not a wealthy person, but I do own a family business and his message rings true to me. Just take some time and listen to his message. We need to stop the demogogery and class warfare and get on the same page as a nation or we will get the same old same old in the oval office. that’s my opinion and I’m stickin to it!
41414 Says:
January 8th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
i wish clinton wins so she could be the 1st president of women
41414: I think what you were trying to say is that you hope Clinton wins so she can be the first woman president. based on many of the comments I am seeing, both here and other places, she hasn’t got a chance of getting elected. We, as women, can do a lot better for a first woman president.
Romney is the most capable of the candidates on either side. He has a proven track record and he keeps his promises. He made a list of promises to the voters of Mass when he was elected governor and he delivered on that list. Seeing his “To Do” list now reminds me of that. If he sets his mind to solving problems, they will get solved. If you want effective change for the better in this country, vote Romney.
Anyone who watched this past weekend’s debates knows that he is the one to beat. All the other candidates came out with daggers all aimed at him. Why? He is the only candidate polling in the top 2 in all of the early states…. He just needs to keep on gathering delegates, which he can do in most states by placing or winning. I know the media says that NH is do or die for Romney, but they are wrong. How can they say he is losing when he has, as his campaign points out, received more votes and placed better than any of his competitors in the first three states? Media bias…..
As a Brit who loves the US but has despaired at the Bush presidency the only GOP who does not give me sleepless nights is John McCain. Had he taken the nomination in 2000 the US would be in better shape. On the Dem side John Edwards is the best candiate. Had he taken the nomination in 2004 the Dems would be in better shape
The irony of Hillary Clinton’s campaign is her message that she is experienced and ready to lead from Day 1. That was pretty much the message of the failed Bush campaign in 1992. Trust me guys, I know what I am doing! In 1992 Bill Clinton asked voters to trust in America optimism and the power of Hope. In 2008 Bill Clinton says that the US may not be ready to “roll the dice on an Obama presidency”. Hillary warns voters not to “make a leap of faith”, the exact kind of leap of faith US voters made in 1992 and want to make again in 2008.
Hillary is just not connecting and in the words of one London correspondent her campaign is “like a perfectly machine tooled car made for another age”.
Paul Bower
London, England
Go mitt! No matter what i support you!