A stream of relatively young people moved into the hall at 7:45PM, when the Paul staffers opened the doors to the crowd. Among the chatter in the entering crowd was talk of a second-place finish and speculation surrounding exit polls. Some were glued to their phones, looking at or listening to results. Conversations also included talk about campaigns gone by, including the Giuliani campaign, and one Paul pin-adored supporter remarked that he had been driving people to the polls all day.
Final results: Summary results | Town resultsThe BasicsThe New Hampshire primary is a mainstay in American electoral politics. Every four years, voters gather to help determine the Republican and/or Democratic nominee for President. While the state only has 12 electoral votes in 2012 (normally it’s 24, but the Republican National Committee penalized the state party for moving up the event date), the primary’s position as one of the earliest contests gives the state out-sized influence over the nomination process.Only the Iowa caucuses come before New Hampshire’s primary. Traditionally, New Hampshire’s broad-based primary contest has been seen as a counter-weight to Iowa’s more drawn-out caucus process, which tends to draw a smaller core of party faithful. In the case of the 2012 Republican race, New Hampshire’s electorate is seen to represent the more libertarian-leaning, fiscally conservative wing of the party, while Iowa voters are seen as representing the socially conservative wing of the GOP base.N.H. Primary summary provided by StateImpact - NH reporter, Amanda Loder
Paul Supporters Crowd the Room
