USA: Frontrunner Romney greets voters on New Hampshire's primary day

Record ID: 346492

  • Title: USA: Frontrunner Romney greets voters on New Hampshire's primary day
  • Date: 11th January 2012
  • Summary: SLATE INFORMATION
  • Embargoed: 26th January 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa, Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9IOAX8EYG6BCMBZP99VN9DNH0
  • Story Text: Greeting voters at a polling station in Manchester, the front-runner in the New Hampshire primary Mitt Romney said he expects "good support around the country," as he hopes to take another step closer to the Republican presidential nomination.
    "You see the exciting people behind me talking about winning this one and hopefully that kind of spirit carries on to South Carolina next," he said, arriving at the same polling station visited earlier by Republican candidate New Gingrich.
    As supporters chanted, "Go Mitt Go," Romney is fighting to ride out last-minute attacks labeling him a corporate raider who enjoyed firing workers.
    The former governor of neighboring Massachusetts carried a sizable lead in polls into voting day, a sufficient cushion that should force rivals Ron Paul, Jon Huntsman, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum into a battle for second place.
    Romney, 63, would be the first Republican who is not an incumbent president to win the first two early voting states, after his slim eight-vote victory over former Pennsylvania Senator Santorum a week ago in the Iowa caucuses.
    A more resounding win would provide momentum going into South Carolina on January 21 and Florida on January 31. He leads in polls of both states and victories there could all but sew up his nomination to face Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 general election.
    A Suffolk University/7 News tracking poll on Tuesday showed Romney with 37 percent support among New Hampshire voters, versus 18 percent for Paul, 16 percent for Huntsman, 11 percent for Santorum, 9 percent for Gingrich and 1 percent for Texas Governor Rick Perry.
    Winners of the small New England state have had mixed success in getting their party's nomination, a fact that raises questions about the primary's relevance. John McCain won the Republican primary in 2000 but lost the bid to George W. Bush. In 2008, Hillary Clinton won the Democratic primary but the party nod went to Obama.
    Critics of the New Hampshire primary say it is arcane, unrepresentative and given undue media attention. Defenders say it acts as a leveler between the more politically conservative Iowa and South Carolina Republican contests.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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