Alex Brandon
It’s never too early to be looking at New Hampshire, the first primary state—and the news looks pretty good for Republican Mitt Romney. The former Massachusetts governor came out on top in a New Hampshire poll, beating even President Obama. In the WMUR Granite State Poll, Romney won 49 percent of the vote to 41 percent for the president. For Romney, it’s an especially savory victory: He lost the New Hampshire Republican primary in 2008 to John McCain. Romney also came out well ahead of other potential GOP candidates including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, and former House Speaker Newt Gringrich. Perhaps surprisingly, at the bottom of the list were former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, who only won 6 percent of the vote, Rep. Ron Paul with 5 percent, and Donald Trump with 3 percent.