Victory

Mitt Speech Bashes 'Desperate Rivals'

Takes almost 40 percent of NH vote.

Mitt Romney has the momentum going into South Carolina. He took New Hampshire with nearly 40 percent of the vote, trailed distantly by Ron Paul, with almost 23 percent. Jon Huntsman, who staked everything on a New Hampshire victory, came in third, with nearly 17 percent, while Rick Santorum, battling Newt Gingrich for fourth, was unable to sustain his Iowa surge. The Romney campaign hopes to follow Sen. John McCain's path to victory in South Carolina, banking that the continued ambivalence over who is to be his more conservative opponent will divide the social-conservative vote. More so than his Iowa speech, Romney's acceptance speech last night sounded like a general-election salvo. He used a teleprompter, and spent much of it hammering President Obama, only mentioning his Republican rivals to say that “we have seen some desperate Republicans join forces with” the president to “put free enterprise on trial.”