Good morning,
Five days from the first in the nation primary and the battle for New Hampshire is underway. Here are the ten things you need to know.
- Mitt looks to seal the deal fast: The Romney campaign has one goal now: clinch the nomination as quickly as possible. With a commanding lead in the polls in New Hampshire, the campaign wants to win by a landslide and keep momentum on his side going into South Carolina. The danger for Romney is that even a victory, if not by a large margin, could be perceived as a disappointment and hurt his momentum.
- Romney campaigns in New Hampshire with big-name surrogates: John McCain and Nikki Haley will be campaigning with him in New Hampshire, holding a rally on Thursday and Friday. As many begin to assume Romney will be the nominee, he continues to rack up big-name endorsements.
- Santorum takes New Hampshire by storm: The former Pennsylvania Senator has a packed day with four downhill style meetings, ending with a “Faith, Freedom, and Family” rally in Winham, NH. Santorum will spend the morning making the rounds on New Hampshire talk radio and end at 10pm ET on Fox’s On The Record. He plans to remain in Granite State through at least Saturday.
- Super PACs keep up big spending: By the time the Iowa caucuses were over, super PACs had spent more money in the state than campaigns. This will likely be the case in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida, where, according to FEC filings, super PACs supporting Jon Huntsman, Newt Gingrich, and Mitt Romney have already put money into promoting their candidate and attacking the others.
- Santorum raised $1 million on Wednesday: That’s a lot of money for a candidate whose campaign only spent about $30,000 in Iowa. But after his 8-vote second place finish in Iowa, Rick Santorum raised $1 million in small donations in less than 24 hours — 50% of what his campaign had raised to date.
- Pro-Santorum super PAC prepares for battle: The Red, White & Blue Fund will announce Thursday it is bringing on Capital Hill veteran Stuart Roy as an adviser. In its announcement, RWB Fund said it was preparing “for an additional and expanded presence in the quickly upcoming primary states of New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida,” reports Politico. RWB Fund ran $537,335 in ads in Iowa and was responsible for almost all media supporting Santorum in the state.
- Obama’s recess appointments enter campaign narrative: Mitt Romney issued a scathing statement Wednesday, calling Obama’s appointment of Richard Cordray as director of the CFPB “Chicago-style politics at its worst.” Obama, embracing a populist message, welcomes this fight. In New Hampshire, Rick Santorum told a crowd that the recess appointment was probably illegal and the Senate should take Obama to court.
- Santorum is already facing scrutiny: It’s two days after Iowa and Rick Santorum’s impressive showing there is already garnering the scrutiny bestowed upon frontrunners. He’s in hot water for comments he made about blacks and welfare and even Fox’s Bill O’Reilly pointed hammered Santorum on his extreme views on contraception and ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ Wednesday night
- Democrats ding Romney on Dream Act: Gearing up for a battle against Mitt Romney, Democrats will hold his feet to the fire over comments that he would veto the Dream Act as president. Thursday, the DNC will hold a call with reporters on the issue. Their message coming out of Iowa is that Romney has hurt his chances with crucial Latino voters.
- Remember 9-9-9?: Herman Cain announced Wednesday evening that he was launching Cain Solutions Revolution to keep his ideas alive, Cain explained on Fox News. Specifically, Cain named a website and bus tour to push his 9-9-9 tax plan on candidates and lawmakers.
