New Hampshire primary: Santorum under fire and Romney snubbed - live

Rick Santorum drives on in Tilton, New Hampshire.

11.29am: The Guardian's Adam Gabbatt is in New Hampshire, where he finds the Occupy movement is setting up camp in preparation to another bout of protests.

Occupy New Hampshire protester John Carney shows off his tent pitched in Veterans Park, Manchester. Photograph: Adam Gabatt/GuardianJust as in Iowa, the politicians in New Hampshire will be subject to actions from Occupy protesters as they campaign ahead of the primary vote on Tuesday.

Demonstrators are setting up their tents at Veterans Park on Elm Street in the city this morning – although they have actually been beaten to it by CBS and ABC, both of which have their own studios set up in gazebos in the park, some 20 metres from Occupy the NH primary's base.
At 10am this morning all was quiet at the park, until a young man in red baseball cap sprinted along Elm Street and attempted to pull down several candidates' roadside signs, an unfortunate security official puffing in his wake. The perpetrator managed to knock over
two Rick Santorum signs before sprinting away down a side street, hoisting up his tracksuit bottoms as he went. He is not believed to be linked to Occupy New Hampshire, nor to CBS or ABC.
Protesters at Veterans Park have negotiated a permit with police, and have the use of the area from 9am-9pm until Tuesday. John Paul Canney, who lives in Manchester but grew up in Glasgow – the original one in Scotland – said 700 people had signed up on the group's Facebook page to attend events, the first of which is 5pm tonight.
Canney, 34, was coy on how protesters might specifically impact the presidential hopefuls' campaigns, but events on the group's website designated "direct action" give a clue that Romney, Santorum and others can expect to see Occupy action at some point over the next few days. In Iowa, Occupy protesters were arrested after infiltrating candidates' events.
"We're not trying to irritate, we're trying to get a message out," Canney said. "I would like more people to find out about Occupy and the gripes we've been having about government. People can find a voice."
As for the Republican presidential contenders: "They're all fake. It's a joke."
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Canney said he would not vote for any of the candidates. He said he supports Obama: "And I think he's trying to do his best, but really, he lost his balls."
Canney added: "Really, it doesn't matter who gets in office, they're going to do the same thing anyway."

11.05am: Did Mitt Romney win the Iowa caucuses thanks to a case of "fat finger"?

The suggestion by Edward True, mentioned earlier, is that instead of Romney winning two votes from his precinct in Moulton, Appanoose County, a "22" was typed instead of a 2. And thus history was made.
Des Moines's television station KCCI reports:

A spokeswoman with the Iowa Republican Party said True is not a precinct captain and he's not a county chairperson so he has no business talking about election results. She also said the party would not be giving interviews about possible discrepancies until the caucus vote is certified.

10.46am: The biggest political news event today took place not in New Hampshire but on the labour market – and some remarkably good news for the Obama administration.

As my colleague Dominic Rushe reports, December saw a welcome dose of job growth:

Employers added 200,000 jobs to the US economy in December as unemployment fell to 8.5%, the government announced on Friday.
According to the US Labour Department's monthly survey of employers private companies added 212,000 jobs in December, while the public sector – federal, state and local governments – shrank by 12,000.
A separate survey of US households said the unemployment rate sank to 8.5% in December, its lowest level since February 2009.

A few more months like that and Obama's re-election prospects will improve markedly. The White House was quick to highlight the best bits:

Despite adverse shocks that have created headwinds for economic growth, the economy has added private sector jobs for 22 straight months, for a total of 3.2 million payroll jobs over that period. In the last 12 months, 1.9 million private sector jobs were added on net, more than in any year since 2005. Nonetheless, we need faster growth to put even more Americans back to work.

10.30am: Nevermind who will win in New Hampshire, we still don't know who the hell won in Iowa yet.

The Daily Iowan reports, under the headline "Appanoose County man claims Romney vote total is wrong," in case you thought that Onion "Area Man" gag was out of date, that a GOP caucus-goer reckons the numbers do lie:

Edward L True, of Moulton, claims in an affidavit Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's caucus vote total is wrong.
True writes Mitt Romney in his precinct of Washington and Wells township was given credit for 22 ballots when he actually only received two.
According to the Iowa GOP web site, Mitt Romney received 22 ballots for the precinct in question. Romney is credited with beating Rick Santorum by eight votes in the Iowa caucus.

So the whole thing is like that Spike Milligan headline parody competition winner: "Archduke Franz Ferdinand found alive, World War One a mistake"?
The Santorum campaign – or at least Rick Santorum – doesn't care because he was told there was another over-count in his favour somewhere else, telling Fox New last night:

Here's what I know. Having talked to Matt Strawn, who's the chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa ... there was one county where there was a 20-vote mistake in my favour, but there was a 21-vote mistake vote in Romney's favour. So it actually netted out to what I understand is a one-vote difference.

10.10am: What the paper's say, New Hampshire (and Boston) edition

• For vision and national unity, Huntsman for GOP nominee – Boston Globe
Boston – Mitt Romney's home town and site of his presidential campaign headquarters – repaid his loyalty by endorsing Jon Huntsman in the New Hampshire primary today, via the Boston Globe. Because New Hampshire is so closely attached to Massachusetts and Boston in particular, this actually has an impact.
The Globe is no friend of Romney's, and pulls no punches here:

Without personal experience to guide him, Romney is catering to the most vocal constituencies in the national-security wing of the GOP. As in other areas, such as his Robert Bork-led advisory panel on judicial policies, Romney's ultimate intentions aren't clear. Is this for real?

• Rick Santorum's Anti-Abortion Politics Would Have Killed His Own Wife – Jezebel

Let's get down to brass tacks: Presidential candidate Rick Santorum, Personhood Pledge-signing, Griswold vs Connecticut-opposing, Mr Ban Abortion in All Circumstances With No Exception for the Life of the Mother, believes that the actions of his own wife should be treated as criminal.

• New Hampshire's Main Event: The Fight for 2nd Place – RealClearPolitics
The thesis here is that the runner-up in New Hampshire will be annointed as the Mitt Romney alternative. Possibly. Or possibly everyone will just discount New Hampshire because it's in the bag for Romney and move on.
• Under Media Glare, Santorum's Record Draws Closer Look – NPR
A round-up of the various attempts to put Santorum under the microscope.

9.45am: So where are the candidates today? Ron Paul and Rick Perryare both in Texas lying low and getting ready for Saturday night's debate. Otherwaise, Rick Santorum is the hardest working politician in New Hampshire today.

Mitt Romney
• Started the day in South Carolina at a Peanut Warehouse – shades of Jimmy Carter – in Conway
• 6pm: Hosts a spaghetti dinner. Tilton School, Tilton, New Hampshire
Rick Santorum
• 9.30am: Hosting a at the Basement Auditorium, Keene
• 11am: Visits Pelletier's Sports Shop, Jaffrey
• 1pm: Hosts a town hall, Dublin School, Dublin
• 4pm: Hosts a town hall, Manchester
• 6pm: Attends the Hillsborough County Republican gala, Nashua
• 9pm: Appears as guest on Hannity, Fox News
Newt Gingrich
• 9am: Holding a Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical town hall meeting, Lebanon (that's Lebanon, New Hampshire, not Lebanon, Lebanon)
• 11.15am: Takes tour of Sturm, Ruger & Company factory tour and holds a town hall, Newport
• 7pm: Holds a "Don't Mass Up'' New Hampshire town hall meeting, Salem
Jon Huntsman
• 9am: Speaks at New England College Convention, Concord
• 5pm: Speaks at a house part, Randolph
• 6.45pm: Speaks at Littleton Chamber of Commerce annual dinner, Bretton Woods
Now, what's that "Don't Mass Up" town hall thing all about, Newt?

The contest for the New Hampshire primary is going at full speed, with the glare of the media spotlight shining on Rick Santorum's record both in and outside of Congress and Mitt Romney confident enough to slip in a flying visit to South Carolina.

Santorum's success in Iowa has, as widely predicted, brought with it a microscopic examination of his career as a politician and on his career outside Washington following his crushing defeat in the 2006 elections.
For Iowa winner Mitt Romney, the latest polls show little dent in his commanding New Hampshire lead – although disturbing news from Iowa suggests that his narrow victory there on Tuesday night may have actually been a narrow defeat thanks to overcounting of his votes.
Meanwhile, the candidates are gearing themselves up for a critical debate on Saturday night, hosted by WMUR-TV and ABC News, at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, the first to take place in the new post-Iowa field.
We'll be following all the activity in New Hampshire live throughout the day.
Source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/06/new-hampshire-santorum-romney-live?CMP=NECNETTXT8187