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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

The buzz at the Santorum Headquarters

Live crews stand by for their 6:00 reports at the Santorum campaign party in Manchester, NH. The audio from the podium has been plagued by a buzz, much to the chargrin of the broadcast media.
Kevin Flynn for NHPR.
Live crews stand by for their 6:00 reports at the Santorum campaign party in Manchester, NH. The audio from the podium has been plagued by a buzz, much to the chargrin of the broadcast media.

In the hours before the polls close - and national reporters have nothing to do except bide their time before their live shots - there was some real buzz at the Santorum HQ.  Literally.  The audio system from the podium was plagued by a buzz.  Any audio engineer will tell you such a gremlin is caused by a crossed wire, a short inside a line, or the impedance on a sound line being switched the wrong way.  The problem is chasing it down among an army of radio and TV news crews.

The noise in the line is no small annoyance.  There are reporters and producers who've traveled hundreds, even thousands, of miles to be here for the moment the candidate takes the stage.  Something like a buzz in the audio would ruin the broadcast.

We can report that - just as mysteriously as it came - the buzz has left the building.  For now...  It looks like every audio engineer in the room will be worried until Santorum leaves the podium.

 

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