In NH, Romney picks up McCain endorsement

Associated Press

MANCHESTER, N.H.

Mitt Romney eagerly pocketed an endorsement from two-time New Hampshire primary winner John McCain on Wednesday and bid to convert a single-digit victory in Iowa into a Republican presidential campaign juggernaut. Unimpressed, Newt Gingrich ridiculed the former Massachusetts governor as a liberal turned moderate now masquerading as a conservative.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum sought to rally conservatives to his side after coming achingly close to victory in Iowa, saying he “hoped to surprise a few people just like we did” in the campaign’s first contest.

“This is a wide-open race still,” added former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who skipped the Iowa caucuses in hopes of making his mark in next Tuesday’s first-in-the-nation primary.

Romney is the odds-on favorite to win the New Hampshire primary, though, and it is unclear how much campaign cash any of his rivals has available to try to slow or even stop his momentum. Additionally, in a measure of his establishment support, the former governor announced he would campaign with South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley today, as he was joined by McCain in New Hampshire.

“The time has arrived for Republicans to choose a presidential nominee, a new standard bearer who has the ability and determination to defeat President Obama,” said McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee and a man with a demonstrated appeal to the state’s independent voters.

Already, the Republican field of challengers was dwindling.

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann ended her campaign after a dreary 5 percent showing in Iowa, the state where she was born.

After suggesting he, too, might withdraw, Texas Gov. Rick Perry decided otherwise. “Here we come, South Carolina!!!” he tweeted. That primary is Jan. 21, and will mark the first balloting in the South as well as in a state that is part of the Republican Party’s conservative, political base nationally.

Iowa, for months ground zero in the Republican race, yielded an almost impossibly close finish.

Romney emerged with an eight-vote victory over Santorum, whose grass-roots campaigning produced a late surge that fell just shy of victory. Texas Rep. Ron Paul finished third, followed by Gingrich, Perry and Bachmann.