Mitt Romney’s New Hampshire Nightmare

There are growing signs that the Republican primary campaign might be a long and muddy slog, a slow grind to accumulate delegates that doesn’t produce a nominee until spring or even summer; a contest more in the World War I style of Obama v. Clinton 2008 than the D-Day landing of George W. Bush 2000. But there’s also a scenario in which, one month from now, Mitt Romney suffers a blow so damaging that he might never recover: defeat in New Hampshire. For much of this year, Mitt Romney’s status as default front-runner in the Republican nomination fight rested in large measure on the assumption that he was a shoo-in to win the New Hampshire primary. Romney appeared to have everything going for him in the Granite State. He’d spent four years as governor of neighboring Massachusetts. He’d bought a lakefront house in the town of Wolfeboro, where he spent several months a year—effectively becoming a part-time state resident. He spent the bulk of 2011 mostly ignoring Iowa and focusing time and resources to the east. The polls painted a picture of total dominance: Romney has placed first in every New Hampshire survey cataloged by Real Clear Politics dating back to April.      More Read