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Analysis

Romney seeks to regain control with general election speech

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney kissed his wife, Ann, as their sons applauded after he won the New Hampshire primary.Win McNamee/Getty Images

Mitt Romney sought to regain control of the Republican presidential nominating contest tonight, not just by winning the New Hampshire primary but also by being first among the candidates to speak and targeting President Obama alone in his remarks.

True, he faces a grueling 11-day campaign in South Carolina, where Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, and Rick Perry will triple tag-team him in a last-ditch stand among more hospitable social conservatives.

But with back-to-back wins in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, Romney is rapidly approaching the tipping point where party thought leaders, fence-sitting voters, and big-monied donors begin to jump on the bandwagon of inevitability.

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And that explains why he talked past his New Hampshire audience, and GOP primary rivals, as he targeted the incumbent Democratic president in his prime-time speech.

“We remember when Barack Obama came to New Hampshire four years ago,” Romney told an exuberant crowd in Manchester, N.H. “He promised to bring people together. He promised to change the broken system in Washington. He promised to improve our nation. Those were the days of lofty promises made by a hopeful candidate. Today, we are faced with the disappointing record of a failed president.”

Romney fed off the energy of his supporters as he ratcheted up his intensity and loudly proclaimed: “The president has run out of ideas. Now, he’s running out of excuses. And tonight, we are asking the good people of South Carolina to join the citizens of New Hampshire and make 2012 the year he runs out of time.”

Romney spoke using a TelePrompTer, the speechmaking device that projects a text on glass panels so a speaker can look at his audience while his remarks scroll in front of his eyes.

Republicans love to deride Obama for using one for even the most mundane of remarks, but a TelePrompTer’s presence signals a person isn’t just speaking, but sending a message.

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Romney’s message tonight seemed aimed at those who continue to doubt his conservative credentials, or his ability to survive a general election matchup against Obama’s well-practiced Chicago political machine.

He had the same speech queued up last week, but at the last moment, aides dismantled the TelePrompTer and Romney gave his standard stump speech after he beat Santorum by just eight votes in the caucuses.

“This country already has a leader who divides us with the bitter politics of envy. We must offer an alternative vision,” the former Massachusetts governor said. “I stand ready to lead us down a different path, where we are lifted up by our desire to succeed, not dragged down by a resentment of success. In these difficult times, we cannot abandon the core values that define us as unique - we are One Nation, Under God.”

Romney was followed tonight not just in speaking order by vote tally by Ron Paul, the Texas congressman.

He appears destined to consistently pull a little over 20 percent of the vote, propelled by a loyal group of supporters who identify with his strict constitutionalist message.

That may not be enough to let him win a meaningful number of primaries and caucuses, but it will be sufficient to ensure he’s included in future debates - and gets a weekly 15 minutes of national television time to promote his message of reduced government, less foreign military intervention, and a return to a strict interpretation of the Constitution.

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Paul reveled in that spotlight tonight, as he congratulated Romney on his win but roused his own backers by saying, “We’re nipping at his heels.”

While Romney won New Hampshire, said Paul, “We had a victory for the cause of liberty.”

He spoke in the language of a prophet, saying he and his supporters are leading an “intellectual revolution.” He also spoke of a “liberty movement.”

The Texan boasted “there’s no way they’re going to stop the momentum that we’ve started,” and Paul chuckled as he said “we are dangerous to the status quo.”

By finishing a close third in Iowa and second in New Hampshire, “we will restore freedom to this country,” he said.

Huntsman, meanwhile, tried to put a positive spin on a disappointing third-place finish as he spoke a metaphorical third among the candidates.

He has continually changed the measuring stick for his campaign, abandoning a planned national campaign based in Florida in favor of a New Hampshire-based one targeting that single state.

Both Romney and Paul ended up beating him in his chosen battlefield, but Huntsman told CNN tonight that Romney is “unelectable” as a general election candidate and “we go South from here.”

Yet South Carolina is already challenging turf for Romney because of their shared Mormon faith, and he, unlike Huntsman, has the support of South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and tonight received a tacit endorsement from influential Senator Jim DeMint.

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Senator John McCain has also visited to try to rally his fellow veterans, who make up a sizable voting bloc, and Romney has a better organization than all the remaining candidates but, perhaps, Paul.

Huntsman lacks all of that beyond New Hampshire.

Even if Romney doesn’t go three-for-three by winning South Carolina on Jan. 21, the campaign will next move to Florida, where he has an extensive organization and is benefitting from a pro-Romney super PAC aiming to make the state his nomination firewall.

It may have to be that on Jan. 31, but after tonight, it could also be the place where Romney snuffs out any lingering opponents and emerges as what he tried to project tonight: Obama’s November opponent.


Glen Johnson can be reached at johnson@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @globeglen.