After battling to a virtual tie in the Iowa caucuses, GOP presidential hopefuls Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum are taking their fight to New Hampshire, where the former Pennsylvania senator will use a populist message to try and cut into RomneyÂs sizeable lead.
Two other candidates who surged early in the race, then faded  Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry  suspended their campaign plans for Wednesday in order to decide whether to continue their quests.
Romney, Santorum and Ron Paul split the state, 25%, 25%, and 21%. Close enough that all three can proclaim success. Gingrich came in at 13%, Perry had 10%, Bachman managed 5% and Huntsman only 1%. Early signs are the Perry and Bachman may be closing up camp, both have moved to cancel events and said they would assess their campaigns rather then head directly for New Hampshire.
At the moment Romney looks good, as he leads in NH by a comfortable margin. The fact that he only secured 25% of the vote in Iowa must be worrying though. It makes clear that if the hard right where to line up behind a single candidate, Romney would be loosing. The question now becomes, will the right line up behind anybody?
Jay