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Specter dumps on Obama

Published by Tim McNulty on .

If you read Jim O'Toole's story on Arlen Specter's latest memoir "Life Among the Cannibals," you know he doesn't hold Barack Obama in high regard. The story starts with an anecdote about Obama blowing him off during a Pittsburgh visit after Specter's 2010 primary loss, where the president heaped praise on Mayor Luke Ravenstahl instead of him.

The latest barb comes from a meeting Tuesday with the Inquirer editorial board where he said Democrats should replace Obama with Hillary Clinton as their presidential nominee. From Tom Infield:

He suggested maybe Obama is the one who should be dumped.

"That's the second best alternative," he said of replacing Biden. "A better alternative is to make Hillary the [presidential] nominee. As long as we're talking about dumping, let's go to the core problem."

This came amid a nearly hour-long, freewheeling discussion of his views on what he sees as a lack of real leadership in Washington, on all sides.

Asked if he was serious that Democrats should dump Obama, Specter kind of shook his head.

"I'm not going to get involved in that selection problem," he said.

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Lessons of NH

Published by Tim McNulty on .

Here are some wrapups:

P-G's Jim O'Toole:

There had been little doubt that Mr. Romney would win the first primary here, in a state in his back yard and one in which he's unofficially campaigned nonstop since a disappointing loss hobbled his presidential bid four years ago. But the size of his winning margin, seen as a test of whether he would go limping or charging into the next primaries in South Carolina and Florida, reaffirmed his status as the front-runner in the race.

And David Shribman, who says Romney could be a tepid frontrunner for two reasons:

The first is the weakness of the frontrunner, who for the second week in a row drew about the same portion of the vote as he did four years earlier against a tougher, more diverse and overall more interesting field of rivals.

The second is the profound introspection these Republicans set in motion, unusual in any party but without precedent in the Republican Party perhaps since 1912, about the character of capitalism. For nearly a week, Mr. Romney's record as a crusading consultant rushing in to salvage profits amid corporate wreckage was at the center of the Republican debate, though not remotely the way the former Bain Capital chief, who has relentlessly portrayed himself as a business savior rather than a job wrecker, had intended. From all corners of a party that once was considered the curator of capitalism came an assault on Mr. Romney and important questions about the human costs of corporate restructuring and the moral consequences of bottom-line success and CEO compensation.

NYT: Results show Romney's strength and the big test facing others in South Carolina

The Atlantic: Ron Paul did better than expected.

The Hill: Romney leads in every category (wins, polls, money) and could wrap this up quickly.

FWIW, Santorum was still at 5th place behind Gingrich by 143 votes with 2% of the vote still out there.

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Santorum (barely) moves to 4th/Updated

Published by Tim McNulty on .

Rick Santorum pulled into 4th place in NH, just ahead of Newt Gingrich, around 9:45 p.m.

With 57% reporting, he led Gingrich by 85 votes.

UPDATE: Santorum hit the stage just before 10 p.m. to deliver his N.H. farewell & S.C. greeting, hitting on his usual themes of family and economic prosperity. "We have an opportunity to be the true conservative . . . who can go out and do what's necessary not just to win this race -- we can win this race -- but to be the conservative who understands the foundation of our country are institutions that are crucial for us to be a successful nation."

UPDATE 10:14 pm. Gingrich moves back into 4th with 69% reporting, by 51 votes.

UPDATE 10:35 pm. At the 3/4 pole Gingrich in 4th place over Santorum, by 107 votes.

UPDATE 11:09 p.m. These numbers have hardly changed in a half-hour. We're getting out of here and will give a final tally in the morning.

Thanks for reading, everybody. Much more to come throughout the year.

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Santorum wins (one town)

Published by Tim McNulty on .

Rick Santorum was still in fifth place as of 9:10 p.m., but he has won one town in N.H., according to Google's breakout: Roxbury, with almost 57% of the vote.

UPDATE 10:53 p.m. Google has since changed the results and has Ron Paul winning the town. Pic below of what the results looked like earlier.

Roxbury

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2008 vs 2012

Published by Tim McNulty on .

Mitt Romney is at 37% of the N.H. vote (with about 1/3 counted), which is ahead of his 32% four years ago. If Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum stay at 10%, that puts them directly in between Mike Huckabee and Rudy Giuliani (at 11 and 9% respectively).

On the other hand, turnout looks pretty low vs 2008. (NYT)