The gloves have come off by the other candidates now in response to all of the mudslinging being done at the hands of the Romney and Paul campaigns so the New Hampshire Primary is proving to be a little more contested than originally thought and is proving that it may not be the coronation that Mitt Romney expects.  I came fairly close with my predictions for Iowa, correctly nailing that Bachmann would end her race by the end of the week and calling Mitt Romney the winner, albeit by 8 votes.  I thought Santorum would run fourth, but did expect that a lot of last minute decision makers would choose him and Newt Gingrich.  I was half right.  I didn't fully gauge how $17 million dollars worth of negative campaign ads would affect the Speaker's campaign.  

1.  Romney will win.  There is no question.  And rightly so.  He was Governor of a neighbor state and got a lot of free news airtime as Governor across borders.  Further he owns a home here now.  However, I don't think there is going to be this gigantic groundswell of Romney supporters rushing to get him the nomination.  Look for him to top out at about 28%

2.  Jon Huntsman will become the flavor of the hour here as he comes close to hitting 20%.  Again, as with Santorum, he will benefit from a large number of last minute voters.  Add that to the fact that he skipped Iowa in favor of the Granite State and is more moderate in his views, something endearing to the voters.  This will be the one bright spot of Huntsman's campaign...Look for him to say zài jiàn after Florida...(Goodbye in Chinese.)

3.  Congressman Paul will come in 3rd, but very well may nip Huntsman, depending on how well the weather is and if the flock of students from around the state can get their VW buses started in the cold.  This will also be the beginning of the end for the good Doctor as he will begin to fade significantly in the more traditionally Conservative states.  He's now attacking Santorum as a spendthrift and a betrayer of the Republican Party....Pot...meet kettle...

4.  Rick Santorum will get a boost from his near miraculous win in Iowa, but will duke it out with Speaker Gingrich for the 4th position.  Look for them both to get around 13-15%.  Gingrich very well could come out of this looking pretty good, as will Santorum, so long as neither finishes behing Perry all is well in their camps as the Conservative candidates will do much better in South Carolina and are not expecting a huge win in New Hampshire. 

5.  Rick Perry's campaign is basically on life support after he nearly pulled the plug on it last week after a less than stellar showing in Iowa.  He's basically skipped New Hampshire.  Perry should have been recognized as a local citizen however, with his uncanny resemblance to the Old Man Of The Mountain, but will only be able to get about 2%.  South Carolina will be his Waterloo. 

When all things are said and done there will be no great surprises in New Hampshire unless Romney is prevented from reaching 25%.  If that's the case, his candidacy should go ahead and take the honorable way out and commit Harry Caray...(Yeah I know it's hari-kari, but I think more people commited suicide after hearing poor old Harry slog through "Take Me Out To The Ballgame", than all of the disgraced samurai in history combined.)