John McCain claimed the GOP primary last night in decisive fashion, beating former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney by 5 percentage points. Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee placed a distant third.
New Hampshire Public Radio's Josh Rogers has more.
John McCain celebrates his win in the 2008 primary. (Courtesy Dave Delay)
(crowd cheering: "Mac is back! Mac is back!")
The party started early at John McCain's Nashua headquarters, and when the beaming McCain accepted the win shortly after 9 pm, the 71 year old began with some self-deprecation.
"My friends, I'm past the age when I can claim the noun 'kid,' no matter what adjective precedes it. But tonight, we sure showed 'em what a comeback looks like." (cheers)
McCain then praised the state that has twice propelled him to primary night victories.
He struck a more earnest note when describing the message he says carried him to victory.
"I talked to the people of New Hampshire. I reasoned with you. I listened to you. I answered you - sometimes I argued with you (laughter). But I always told you the truth as best as I can see the truth. And you did me the great honor of listening. Thank you New Hampshire."
(cheers)
McCain's resurrection upset the best-laid plans of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney. He'd invested a lot of time and millions of dollars of his own money to win New Hampshire. Romney's campaign had hoped victories here and in Iowa would put him on the fast track to the GOP nomination. After two second-place finishes, which Romney has taken to calling "silver medals," his national viability is now under a cloud.
After congratulating McCain on his win, Romney assured supporters that his campaign has better days ahead.
"I will fight across this nation, on to Michigan and South Carolina and Florida and Nevada, and states after that." (cheers)
The test for both Romney and McCain going forward will be to court the core GOP electorate that has so far failed to coalesce around any single Republican candidate.
Jackie Eastwood, treasurer of Mitt Romney's state campaign, says winning over the national Republican base will prove more of a challenge to McCain than was winning 37 percent support in the New Hampshire primary.
"Good, staunch conservative Republicans are still kind of upset with him about his immigration position and tax position, but I think he does have a loyal base of folks that supported him in 2000, and I don't think it's any more than that."
McCain's headquarters last night was filled with veterans of his 2000 primary win, but there were also plenty of newcomers. McCain's state campaign vice chairman Chuck Douglas expects yesterday's results to draw more fresh supporters. He adds that it'll also open the door to better relationships with more ideological conservatives.
"Trust me, I have new friends that I haven't seen for twenty years. I'm looking at John Gizzi from Human Events, he's been on McCain's tail 24-7 for a year, I'm going to go talk to John."
The next big test for John McCain, Mitt Romney and the rest of the GOP field will be the Michigan primary on January 15th.
For NHPR News, I'm Josh Rogers.
