New Hampshire Kicks Off Republican Primary

DIXVILLE NOTCH, N.H. — The voters of this tiny hamlet, all nine of them, have spoken. Very briefly.


The polls opened here at midnight and closed less than a minute later, and the tally was final by 12:05 a.m. On the Republican side, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman tied, with two votes each. Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul each got one vote. President Obama received his very first live votes of confidence — three of them.


New Hampshire election law permits unincorporated towns of fewer than 100 residents to open for polling at midnight, and Dixville Notch has done so since 1960, at The Balsams Grand Resort Hotel high in the North Country, about 20 miles south of the Canadian border. There were nine votes cast that year, too, all for Richard Nixon.


A crowd of about 200 media representatives chronicled the entire 2-minute affair.


Tanner Tillotson, who is 23 and a grandson of the previous owner of The Balsams, obligingly offered his comments to a bank of TV cameras: “We’ve seen a tie in the Republican primary between Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, and I think the voters should take that as a sign that they should vote for whom they want, rather than who might win. Dixville always has played this tiny but important role in the process.


He opened himself to criticism Monday when he declared Monday, "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me."
The comment referred to health care consumers and insurance companies, and Romney later accused his rivals of taking his words out of context.
The other Republicans in the race generally been content to vie for second place in hopes of emerging as his main rival in the South Carolina primary on Jan. 21.
"Second place would be a dream come true," said former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, as he raced through a final full New Hampshire campaign day that began before sunrise and stretched for more than 14 hours. The former Pennsylvania senator finished a surprising second in last week's Iowa caucuses, but without money for television ads he has appeared to struggle as he seeks to convert that into momentum.
Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, won in Iowa by eight votes. A victory in New Hampshire would make him the first Republican in a contested presidential nomination battle to capture the first two races of the campaign since Iowa began leading off for the GOP in 1976.
The battle has grown increasingly rancorous in recent days -- both in New Hampshire and next-up South Carolina -- with Santorum, Perry and Gingrich escalating their attacks on Romney's claim that a background in business uniquely qualifies him to help create American jobs.
At the same time, an organization that backs Gingrich has spread the word that it intends to spend $3.4 million on television ads in South Carolina that are expected to attack Romney with gusto.
"Now we'll see if he has the broad shoulders and can stand the heat," said Gingrich, relishing the battle ahead as the nominating campaign wheels South.