Clinton, Christie Early Frontrunners for 2016 NH Primary

But with the primary still three years away, most New Hampshire voters are understandably still undecided.

OUTSIDE MANCHESTER, NH -- Hillary Clinton is the heavy favorite among New Hampshire Democrats for the 2016 New Hampshire Primary, while no one in the Republican field has yet to separate from the pack. Yes, it's still three years before the 2016 Primary, but a WMUR/University of New Hampshire Survey Center poll released Thursday night shows that Clinton is the prohibitive favorite among Granite State Democrats. The poll surveyed 581 New Hampshire residents. A whopping 63 percent of Democratic voters said they plan to vote for Clinton, compared to 10 percent for Vice President Joe Biden, 5 percent for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and 2 percent for Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker. Biden made numerous stops in New Hampshire last year, …

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Santorum Suspends Campaign

NH co-chair will support Romney, but a Tea Party leader says Romney won't get his vote.

The former U.S. senator who built the case as the conservative alternative to Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney has suspended his campaign. Rick Santorum's New Hampshire supporters were saddened by the news Tuesday, but proud to have stood with him. Daniel Tamburello, a state co-chairman for Santorum, said Santorum made a good case for being the conservative choice. Ultimately, Tamburello said, Santorum will have made Romney a stronger candidate in the general election. "That whole campaign is testament to the fact that Rick is a genuine human being," Tamburello said in a phone interview with Patch. "When people talked to Rick, looked into this eyes, they believed what he said." Santorum made the decision after taking a break…

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Tony Schinella

3:03 pm on Wednesday, April 11, 2012

I think he quit too early. I know everyone is saying that he didn't want to lose his home state and maybe he will run in 2016, but his time was really now. That said, clearly the health of Bella had a role in the decision.   more ›

Did Rick Santorum Diss Exeter?

GOP candidate said Ripon, Wis. is where Republicans first met.

As he campaigned for votes leading up to today's Wisconsin primary, Rick Santorum made a stop Monday in the town of Ripon, Wisconsin. According to this ABC News story, Ripon lays claim to being the birthplace of the Republican Party. Santorum even pointed this out in his remarks to reporters, saying "We came to where the Republican Party first met." But some – particularly those here in Exeter – would take issue with that claim. As ABC News points out, several other towns across the country, including Exeter, also claim to be the real birthplace of the GOP. Jim Merrill, Mitt Romney's New Hampshire State Director, took to Twitter on Monday night to point out Santorum's "slight" of Exeter. He sent out a Tweet referencing the ABC News story, …

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Super Tuesday Goes Down to the Wire

Mitt Romney wins six states, Rick Santorum three.

For a while on Tuesday night, it looked like Rick Santorum might pull off an upset in Ohio, knocking Mitt Romney down a peg and further muddling the race for the GOP nomination. But in the end, Romney was able to eke out a win in the Buckeye State. That gave him a total of six Super Tuesday victories, enough to remain the Republican frontrunner but not enough to seal the nomination. Romney also won in Alaska, Idaho, Massachusetts, Virginia and Vermont. Santorum won Oklahoma, Tennessee and North Dakota, with Newt Gingrich taking his home state of Georgia. Here's what some New Hampshire political observers had to say about the Super Tuesday results on Tuesday night, when the results from Ohio were still in doubt: Bedford Republican Stephen …

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Romney Wins Michigan, Arizona

Rick Santorum finished second in both states.

Mitt Romney walked away with a double-primary sweep, cleaning up in Michigan and Arizona after a hard fought victory in these two back-to-back primaries. "Thank you, Michigan. What a win. This is a big night. Thank you guys," Romney said in his victory speech from Michigan, the state where he was born. "We didn't win by a lot, but we won by enough, and that's all that counts." Later Romney Tweeted: "I take great pride in my Michigan roots, and am humbled to have received so much support here these past few weeks." Now it's on to Super Tuesday races, which should push GOP voters closer to selecting the candidate who will challenge Democratic President Barack Obama in November. The rest of the field in Michigan: Santorum finished second, Ron…

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David Victory

9:22 pm on Wednesday, February 29, 2012

@ Hocus, you'd rather play silly games instead of answer a single question on one of you poorly thought out, hastily slapped up posts? I'm shocked, Regina.   more ›

VIDEO: The NH Primary Matters

Campaign managers talked about the state of the New Hampshire Primary.

It seems like so long ago, but New Hampshire was in the national spotlight in the presidential race last month. Campaign managers from the top six Republican presidential campaigns took a look back at the 2012 New Hampshire Primary in a forum discussion on Wednesday, moderated by WMUR's James Pindell. The panel was held Wednesday at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College. It included Jim Merrill of the Mitt Romney campaign, Andrew Hemingway of the Newt Gingrich campaign, Jared Chicoine of the Ron Paul campaign, Mike Biundo of the Rick Santorum campaign, Kerry Marsh of the Rick Perry campaign, and Sarah Crawford Stewart of the Jon Huntsman campaign. Some of these campaign staffers disagreed on whether or not the …

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POLL: Is Romney Conservative Enough to be The GOP Nominee?

Party continues to reach for other options.

Throughout this Republican presidential nomination process, Mitt Romney has faced challenger after challenger, and repeatedly beaten them back to remain the frontrunner. But the core issue behind Republicans' inability to coalesce around Romney appears to be the former Massachusetts governor's lack of real conservative credentials. In the end, that could wind up being his undoing, as Rick Santorum is now making a big push in Michigan. If Santorum wins there on Feb. 28, he could wrest the frontrunner's mantle from Romney. What do you think? Is Romney conservative enough to be the Republican nominee? Or does the party need to look elsewhere? Vote in our poll below, and leave a comment with your thoughts.

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Seamus Carty

9:45 am on Monday, February 20, 2012

Judging by Jan Schmidt's posts here and on the NT site, she wouldn't vote for a Republican candidate if the Democrats had Charlie Manson on the ticket. Her comments about who the Republican nominee should be are irrelevant...   more ›

Mitt Romney Wins Maine Caucuses

Ron Paul also received strong support.

Follow us on Twitter: @ExeterPatch UPDATE, 6:20 p.m. Though some had speculated that low turnout could lead to a Ron Paul win in Maine, multiple media outlets are now reporting that Mitt Romney has won the Maine caucuses. The New York Times reports that Romney won 39 percent of the vote, barely edging out Paul, the only other Republican candidate to actively campaign in the state. Paul received 36 percent of the vote, followed by Rick Santorum at 18 percent and Newt Gingrich at 6 percent. Romney's win stopped his losing streak after Rick Santorum edged him out in Colorado, Minnesota and Missouri last week. UPDATE, 11 a.m. That does it for the campaign portion of the caucus. Voters are now breaking out into individual groups based on what …

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Libby B

3:20 pm on Monday, February 13, 2012

George, check out the comments under this CSM article about the Washington County, Maine 'cancellation' here: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/The-Vote/2012/0213/Did-Mitt-Romney-steal-Maine-caucuses-from-Ron-Paul/(page)/2 CSM in it's continual efforts to marginalize and insult Paul's campaign spun the story like a drunken spider, but people who actually live in Washington County aren't …   more ›

N.H. Primary

NH Ron Paul Supporters Occupy Maine

While Paul supporters concentrate on their considerable ground game, Romney breaks out the big guns.

On Jan. 11, the day after New Hampshire's First-in-the-Nation Primary, hundreds of Ron Paul supporters scoured Granite State roadways for campaign signs, which they collected and distributed to Vermont, South Carolina, Massachusetts and Maine. Because the Maine Caucuses followed the New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida and Nevada primaries, many local Paul supporters have made Vacationland their new stomping grounds, at least until the caucuses, which began this past Saturday and end on Feb. 11.  So while the four remaining GOP contenders battle for votes in the Colorado and Minnesota caucuses and Missouri Primary today, Paul's New Hampshire people know that tomorrow Maine will become the center of political world and the four-day home …

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