Resurgent McCain bests Romney in N.H.

NASHUA, N.H. Sen. John McCain of Arizona tonight won the nation’s first primary, delivering a humiliating loss to Mitt Romney, a former governor of neighboring Massachusetts who held a commanding, double-digit lead just a month ago.

Reviving a presidential bid that had been all-but-dead this summer, when the Iraq war that he staunchly supports was going poorly and his campaign was in disarray, Mr. McCain was buoyant after the win.

“I’m past the age where I can claim the mantle of ‘kid,’ no matter what adjective precedes it, but tonight, we sure showed them what a comeback looks like,” Mr. McCain said to a ballroom full of supporters cheering “Mac Is Back.”

DINAN/ 10 p.m.: Behind McCain’s numbers

In heavy voting statewide, Mr. McCain stood at 37 percent or 26,158 votes with 38 percent of precincts reporting. Mr. Romney had 30 percent, or 20,792 votes, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who took the Iowa caucuses last week, moved up, drawing 12 percent, or 8,328 votes, when state polls showed him in the mid-single digits in November.

“We kept saying four or five, we’d feel good about that,” Mr. Huckabee told supporters. “Tonight, you’ve given us so much more than we could’ve imagined just a few days or weeks ago.”

Former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani was projected to finish in fourth, with 9 percent, or 6,137 votes, just ahead of long-shot candidate Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, at 8 percent, or 5,660 votes, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson was in last place among the top candidates, with just 1 percent, or 878 votes.

The come-from-behind win by Mr. McCain, who once again persuaded independents to support him just as they did in 2000, when he won the state by 18 points, puts Mr. Romney, who finished second in Iowa, against the ropes after sinking millions of his dollars into his once-powerful campaign.

“There have been three races so far,” Mr. Romney told his supporters. “I’ve gotten two silvers and one gold. Thank you, Wyoming,” he said, referring to his first-place finish over the weekend in the western state’s county conventions.

Mr. Romney had run a traditional campaign, focusing on wins in Iowa and New Hampshire to build momentum early and force candidates struggling for money and media attention out of the race. But he was tagged early on with the label of flip-flopper he was pro-choice when he ran for the Senate in 1994 but now says he is pro-life and he was outcampaigned here by Mr. McCain, who did more than 100 town halls across New Hampshire on his Straight Talk Express bus.

In recent days, Mr. Romney sought to cash in on the popular message of Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, who won Iowa and was in a tight race here last night with a message of change. Mr. Romney targeted Mr. McCain, a four-term senator, as a Washington insider incapable of delivering that change.

Mr. Romney will try to regroup to take Michigan on Jan. 15, but the win may not deliver much momentum his father was once governor of the state and many candidates are focusing on South Carolina, traditionally considered the third decisive state in the nomination race.

In addition, his ability to raise cash may be impaired by the McCain win, as donors could begin to see the two-time loser as not a viable candidate to win the nomination. What’s more, after Mr. McCain defeated Texas Gov. George W. Bush in New Hampshire in 2000, momentum delivered a win to him in Michigan, where he beat the eventual nominee by eight points.

New Hampshire’s large population of independent voters, more than 40 percent of the electorate, once again held sway, delivering the win to Mr. McCain. One key that drew independents back to him was that Iraq fell off the front pages as the troop increase strategy that he had long advocated stabilized Iraq.

But Republicans, too, found Mr. McCain more palatable after his comprehensive immigration bill which opponents said amounted to amnesty died in Congress and he began to tell voters here that he had gotten the message to secure the borders first.

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