NH Union Leader endorses Newt

[nhmagic]

The endorsement will matter in this state - very few newspapers have the influence that the Union Leader holds and republican voters in this state buy the paper.  The support for Romney here is only about an inch deep.  They're only supporting him because they don't see an alternative in this field.  When Bachmann had some great initial debates, her poll numbers rose to about 15% in the state.  Even Cain got a rise in his numbers prior to the fake Politico hit piece and money grubbers who came out against him.  

I must say when I picked up my copy this morning and saw Newt on the front I was slightly shocked - it felt too soon, but then I realized how close we are to the primary.  I thought the paper would wait Newts baggage out a little before it endorsed.  But McQuaid desperately wanted to endorse someone other than Romney and they gave a very fair chance to the other candidates - they called out Bachmann for not visiting the state precisely because they initially wanted to endorse her - they reamed Cain out in the paper because of his ridiculous (lets not give McQuaid an hour like he always gets with a candidate because of a bad interview earlier in the week).  Huntsman was too liberal for the paper, Santorum went nowhere and there's Paul (who the paper rarely covers unfortunately).  Thus the endorsement battle was between Gingrich and Perry.  Perry courted it hard and has been up in this state a lot, but his debate performances killed it.  

[nhmagic]

If Gingrich wins Iowa and New Hampshire (which looks like a real possibility now), I don't see how Romney can recover.

Would have been very interesting to see a Huntsman endorsement, though.  A Gingrich win in Iowa, followed by a Huntsman victory in New Hampshire would be very fun to watch.

Huntsman wouldn't have got the endorsement though - McQuaid is a social conservative.  The paper was practically falling all over itself to goad Palin to get in the race earlier in the year - I think she tipped (at least McQuaid off) early because the stories stopped after a bit.