Romney, fresh from his narrow victory in Iowa, bounded into the packed gymnasium at Manchester’s Central High School yesterday, accompanied by the man who defeated him in New Hampshire and won the Republican nomination in 2008, Senator John McCain of Arizona. McCain, who had said last year he didn’t intend to back anyone during the primaries, announced he was endorsing the man he repeatedly called “President Mitt Romney.’’
Romney implored New Hampshire voters not to become complacent, suggesting he needed a big win here. “It sure is nice to have a win, I tell you,’’ Romney said, referring to Iowa. “But the question I have for you is, Can we do better here in New Hampshire? I sure hope so.’’
The Iowa caucuses clarified the field overnight and put new power in the hands of New Hampshire voters to further shape the race. Michele Bachmann ended her campaign and Governor Rick Perry of Texas, who seemed ready to drop out, said instead he planned to campaign in South Carolina, which holds its primary after New Hampshire. The decision of both of those candidates created the potential that social conservatives here could rally around Santorum, helping him build upon his effort to become the alternative to Romney.
Romney “has really had an easy ride and I think that is now over,’’ said Linda Fowler, a government professor at Dartmouth College. “It isn’t just Gingrich in a grudge match. It is Ron Paul calling him a chameleon.’’
Paul, a libertarian representative, has run advertisements calling Romney a flip-flopper.
A series of contests within contests unfolded in the Iowa aftermath. Gingrich took out a full-page ad in the New Hampshire Union Leader in which he tried to define the primary as a race between him and Romney. Gingrich, who has been pummeled by advertisements from a super PAC formed by Romney’s friends, has said Romney is “not telling the truth’’ about his ties to the committee.
