Romney wins N.H. primary; Ron Paul second

CONCORD, N.H. -- Mitt Romney cruised to a solid victory in the New Hampshire primary last night, picking up steam from his first-place finish in the leadoff Iowa caucuses and firmly establishing himself as the man to beat for the Republican presidential nomination.

"Tonight we made history," Romney told cheering supporters before pivoting to a stinging denunciation of President Barack Obama. "The middle class has been crushed . . . our debt is too high and our opportunities too few," he declared -- ignoring the rivals who had been assailing him for weeks and making clear he intends to be viewed as the party's nominee in waiting after only two contests.

His Republican rivals said otherwise, looking ahead to South Carolina on Jan. 21 as the place to stop the former Massachusetts governor. Already, several contenders and committees supporting them had put down heavy money to reserve time for television advertising there.

Even so, the order of finish -- Rep. Ron Paul of Texas in second place, followed by former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania trailing -- scrambled the field and prolonged the increasingly desperate competition to emerge as the true conservative rival to Romney.

With his victory, Romney became the first Republican to sweep the first two contests in competitive races since 1976. Based on partial returns, The Associated Press estimated that turnout would exceed the 2008 record by 4 percent.

Romney fashioned his victory despite a sustained assault by rivals eager to undermine his claim as the contender best situated to beat Obama and help reduce the nation's painfully high unemployment. Gingrich led the way, suggesting at one point that Romney, a venture capitalist, was a corporate raider. The front-runner's defenders said the rhetoric was more suitable to a Democratic opponent than a conservative Republican.

Returns from 92 percent of New Hampshire precincts showed Romney with 91,460, or 39 percent, of the votes; followed by Paul, who had 53,210 votes, or 23 percent; and Huntsman with 39,172 votes, or 17 percent. Gingrich (21,869 votes) and Santorum (21,670 votes) were tied for fourth place at 9 percent each.

As they left their polling places, New Hampshire voters said the economy was the issue that mattered most to them, and a candidate's ability to defeat Obama outranked other qualities.

Romney won in Iowa last week by eight votes over Santorum and gained barely a quarter of the vote there.