Just four days until Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney now enjoys a 20-point advantage over his nearest rival in the Granite State, according to a new NBC News-Marist poll conducted after his photo-finish victory in Iowa.

Click here to read the full NBC News-Marist poll results 

The survey also shows a double-digit bounce since late November in the state for former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum – who trailed Romney by a mere eight votes in Iowa – as well as a 15-point decline for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.

And it finds that New Hampshire voters have begun to make up their minds before the Jan. 10 contest, with six in 10 now strongly supporting their candidate of choice.

According to the poll, Romney gets the backing of 42 percent of likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire, including those leaning toward a particular candidate.

He’s followed by Texas Rep. Ron Paul at 22 percent, Santorum at 13 percent, Gingrich and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman both tied at 9 percent, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry at 1 percent.

More than a month ago – in an NBC-Marist poll conducted Nov. 28-30 – Romney stood at 39 percent, Gingrich at 24 percent, Paul at 16 percent, Huntsman at 9 percent, Perry at 3 percent and Santorum at 2 percent.

What’s more in this newest survey, 60 percent of likely voters say they strongly support their candidate of choice, up from 49 percent in the last poll. Just 11 percent say they might vote differently.

Electability and ideology help Romney
Electability and the state’s ideological makeup are helping Romney in New Hampshire.

Sixty-five percent of likely primary voters believe that the former Massachusetts governor has the best chance of beating President Barack Obama in November. And more than 60 percent of these voters prefer an electable nominee to one who is a true conservative.

Romney still underperforms among conservative voters, Tea Party supporters and evangelical Christians in the state -- but not to the extent he did in Iowa.

Indeed, he leads among very conservative voters (getting 30 percent to 27 percent for Santorum), Tea Party supporters (35 percent to Paul’s 25 percent) and evangelical Christians (31 percent to Santorum’s 30 percent).

In addition, there are fewer of these more conservative voters in New Hampshire than there were in Iowa.

“New Hampshire is a very different ballgame than Iowa,” says Lee Miringoff, the director of Marist College’s Institute for Public Opinion, which conducted the survey.

Paul’s low ceiling, debates matter
While Paul sits in second place in the NBC-Marist poll, he has a lower ceiling than Santorum has. Forty-three percent of likely voters find Paul unacceptable, versus 25 percent who say the same about Santorum.

Meanwhile, 44 percent find Gingrich unacceptable, and 54 percent find Perry unacceptable.

Just 16 percent of these voters say that Romney is not acceptable.

The poll also shows that the debates – and two more of them take place this weekend – have mattered to New Hampshire voters.

A combined 45 percent say they have helped decide their vote a “great deal” or a “good amount.” That’s compared with a combined 10 percent who say the same about the results from the Iowa caucuses, and a combined 20 percent who say the same thing about seeing the candidates in person.

Obama remains under water in New Hampshire
Finally, President Obama’s job-approval rating in New Hampshire stands at 40 percent among registered voters, which is identical to where it was in late November.

He carried New Hampshire by nearly 10 percentage points in the 2008 general election.

The NBC-Marist poll was conducted Jan. 4-5, and its margin of error for the 2,260 registered voters surveyed is plus-minus 2.1 percentage points. The margin of error for the 711 likely New Hampshire Republican primary voters is plus-minus 3.7 percentage points. 

Southern Baptist leader Dr. Richard Land said on MSNBC's "Andrea Mitchell Reports" today that social conservatives have been on the phone since Iowa talking about how to get Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry to drop out before it is too late to stop Mitt Romney.

These social conservatives will be meeting in Texas next weekend -- and he said they would be talking to Gingrich and Perry at some point about coming together behind Rick Santorum before it is too late.

He acknowledged, however, that it's unlikely they can persuade them to drop out before South Carolina, which means their effort to unite against Romney could come too late.

"If you took the vote that Santorum got, and you took the vote that Gingrich got and you took the vote that Perry got, and you took the vote that Michele Bachmann got, you would have out-voted Romney two to one in Iowa," Land said.

"But because of the division among the conservative candidates, there is real concern that Romney will win without having to face one concentrated effort of a conservative challenger. And what I've heard over and over again, [in] these discussions, is we don't want to make the same mistake this time that we made with Huckabee in 2008."

Land continued. "People didn't rally around Huckabee as the, you know, social conservative alternative, because they didn't think he could win until it was too late. And McCain had the nomination sewed up. Now it is a little more diverse this time, and we don't need to make the decision as early. What I hear conservatives saying is, 'We need to keep talking about this, and we need to let Gingrich and Santorum and Perry continue to make their case.' But at some point, earlier rather than later, we need to try to unite all of the conservative -- social conservative forces, around one candidate and have this great debate that so many people want to see between the Romney and the non-Romney."

CONWAY, S.C. -- Sen. John McCain, stumping on behalf of Mitt Romney, appeared a bit rusty with his campaign hits this morning at a rally here. He tripped over an attack line meant to tie Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum together and paint them as pork-barrel spenders.

"Lindsey Graham and Jim DeMint have joined with me time and time again go to the floor of the Senate to fight against the earmark, porkbarrel corruption that goes on in Washington, D.C. Earmarks are a gateway to corruption. I can tell you that neither Mitt Romney nor Rick Santorum share that view," McCain said, quickly catching himself, before continuing. "When Newt Gingrich was Speaker of the House, earmarks exploded. Rick Santorum sponsored earmark after earmark. I went down to the floor and fought against those."

"My friends, earmarks are the gateway to corruption. Members of Congress went to jail, and I guarantee you this president," McCain said, with a slight gesture towards Romney on his right, "will fight against it time after time."

The line, and a similar attack on Santorum the night before in Charleston, were notable for a simple reason: Romney campaign stops almost never include mentions of, let alone attacks on, his GOP rivals for the nomination, with the vast majority of time and energy spent targeting President Obama instead.

Even surrogate attacks on Romney's rivals are often more like air strikes than hand-to-hand combat. In December, former New Hampshire Gov. John H. Sununu labeled Gingrich "not reliable or trustworthy," on a conference call with reporters, and on MSNBC's The Daily Rundown said his "off-the-cuff thinking" was dangerous in a Commander-in-Chief.

Today, on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports, Sununu said Gingrich was "whining" and -- playing off Tom Hanks' character in "A League of Their Own" -- he added, "There's no whining in politics."

Surrogate attacks while the candidate stands on stage with the attacker, however, are extremely rare.

But today's attack on Santorum, who a new poll now shows climbing into second place behind Romney in South Carolina, was no maverick McCain move. Within hours, the campaign released a memo to remind reporters of McCain's successful attack on Santorum, delivered the night before in Charleston.

"Sen. Santorum and I have a strong disagreement," McCain said then, "a strong disagreement that he believed that pork barrel projects were good for America. I think it’s wrong for America."

In the week ahead, it's all about New Hampshire -- two debates, and four things to watch:

(1) Can Romney hold on and by how much?
(2) Does Santorum get a bounce?
(3) Will Newt's attacks matter?
(4) Where does Huntsman finish?

Plus, President Obama raises money in Chicago.

CHESTER, S.C. -- Newt Gingrich’s daughter, Jackie Cushman, said today she thinks her father would have fared better in the Iowa caucuses if there had been a presidential debate in the days leading up to the vote.

Speaking to about 40 Republicans here in the picturesque upstate town of Chester, Cushman said Gingrich’s fourth-place finish in Iowa wasn’t what they had hoped for originally, but they had gradually come to expect that result because of all the negative ads hitting Gingrich there.

“The other reason Dad’s numbers weren’t quite as good is because the last debates were a few weeks ago, and the debates remind us -- when all of the candidates are up on the same stage, and they’re next to each other providing their vision of America’s future -- they provide a very clear contrast to the voters."

Cushman added that voters would have a chance to see her father in his element once again, in two back-to-back debates in New Hampshire this weekend.

When asked later by NBC News about her belief that debates would have given her father a boost in the polls, Cushman said: “Absolutely. I have no doubt in my mind.”

Cushman also said that the campaign’s internal polling had shown Gingrich on the rise right before the caucuses, so that part of his low showing was due to bad timing.

When asked how her father would weather the onslaught of negative ads in South Carolina, Cushman said he plans on handling it “differently."

"He’s already begun to draw a clearer contrast between what he would bring to the table and other candidates, and I think you’ll continue to see that along the campaign trail.”

The appearance in Chester had special significance for Cushman, whose father-in-law is from the small town. At the end of the event, a man approached Cushman to tell her that he was her father-in-law’s roommate at Clemson University.

NBC’s Mark Murray and Domenico Montanaro look back at the Iowa caucuses and how Tuesday’s vote affects the Republican race for the White House.

  
Heading into the New Hampshire primary, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has a strong lead in the polls as he continues his effort to become the Republican nominee challenging President Obama in the fall. That would mean, of course, that the 64-year-old Romney would be closer to The White House than any Mormon ever has been.

If Romney secures the nomination, he would also be the first presidential nominee whose father was born in Mexico.

It's a little-known fact that there's a whole branch of Romney’s family living south of the border, including his second cousin Leighton Romney, and about 40 other relatives descended from religious pioneers who first traveled to Mexico 125 years ago. These days, the Romneys of Mexico enjoy pleasant and productive lives in two remaining settlements: Colonia Juarez and Colonia Dublan, just 175 miles south of the border.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- While voters in South Carolina frequently tout their independence from those in Iowa and New Hampshire, that doesn’t mean they ignore the results of those states’ primary contests.

No candidate since 1980 has won South Carolina without first winning one of the two earlier states, and interviews with voters before Tuesday’s caucus, and follow-ups the next day, suggested that Iowa’s outcome -- a razor-thin margin between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum, and low tallies for several other candidates – was not ignored in the Palmetto State.

Before Tuesday’s vote, Denise Ward, a 44-year-old office manager at a Columbia elementary school, said she thought the Republican field looked like a “big, murky pond,” although she said she had narrowed her sights down to Romney and Newt Gingrich, never mentioning Santorum.

The day after the vote, however, Ward said the former Pennsylvania senator’s photo finish with Romney gave her “a moment to pause and think, ‘whoa, I’ve got a lot of thinking to do.’” That bears out in polling today when Santorum went from just 4% a month ago in a CNN/Time/Opinion Research poll to 19% and second place today. 

And while she didn’t seem quite ready to give up on Gingrich, she expressed concern that the former House speaker might not be able to revive his campaign before he comes to South Carolina.

“I don’t think it looks good for him if he doesn’t do well in Iowa and New Hampshire,” she said. (Gingrich took a nosedive in the poll out today, going from a commanding 43% and first place to third and 18%.)

The candidate expected to do well in the Granite State – Romney – was given favorable, albeit begrudging, consideration by several other South Carolinians the evening before the caucus. 

“I dislike them all, but I’m going to vote, so I’m going to have to pick one,” said Eddie Bagwell, a 77-year-old retired barber from the Upstate Greenville County. After the caucus, Bagwell said he was “bordering on Mitt Romney,” because “the object of the game is to put a candidate in office that will beat the Democrats.”

Bagwell added that Romney’s Mormon faith was not a deal-breaker for him. “They’ve got a pretty strict  doctrine,” he said of the LDS faith. “As a Baptist, I’ve heard some people complain about it, but personally, I don’t see anything wrong with it.”

Romney saw a big boost in the CNN/Time poll. He now sits in first place with 37%, up from 20% a month ago.

Carolyn Lindler, a 71-year-old retiree from Newberry County in the state’s Midlands, was also lukewarm toward Romney, saying she preferred Gingrich but doubted his general-election prospects.  

“No. 1 for me would be Gingrich, but I will vote for Romney,” she said on Monday, before the Iowa caucus.

Lindler's hesitation on Gingrich was further solidified after the results came in early Wednesday morning. “I was at least hoping Newt would come in second,” she said, referring to Gingrich's fourth-place finish in Iowa, in a follow up interview with First Read.

Lindler also said she liked Santorum, but “he’s got too much pork,” she said, referring to his support of earmarks during his congressional tenure.  

While Lindler said she’d still likely vote for Romney, she was dismayed at what she characterized as a choice between the most electable candidate and the best potential president.

“I see more people voting not for who they think is the best man, but for who the best man is to beat Obama,” she said. “And that’s really sad, but it’s the situation that we’ve caught ourselves up in.”

But another Gingrich supporter, James Blaine, a 58-year-old truck driver from Berkeley County, in the southern part of the state, said he wasn’t ready to give up on his preferred candidate. An Iowa native, Blaine said of the caucus results, “My Iowans let me down.”

Dennis Stratton, a retiree from Lexington County, also said he would base his vote only on personal preference. A Rick Perry supporter, who said he liked the Texas governor’s military service, Stratton also voted for Mike Huckabee in 2008. Huckabee won Iowa, but finished second in South Carolina.

“I want to throw my hat in the ring for the person I like the best," he said, "and I think every American ought to do that."

Stratton also said he wasn’t swayed by Sen. John McCain’s endorsement of Romney (the two campaigned together in Charleston today) -- despite McCain's war-hero credentials. “It’s one moderate endorsing another one that tends to be a little more moderate,” he said.

Not all voters woke up disappointed by Wednesday’s results. Billy Chasteen, a 72-year-old retiree from the Midlands’ Calhoun County, said he was glad to see Rick Santorum, his preferred candidate before the caucus, come in virtually tied with Romney.

“Right now he’s still my man,” Chasteen said, adding, however, that he was unsure of the negative attacks Santorum’s opponents have in their arsenal. “I don’t know anything on him yet. It’s going to get bad before it gets better.”

Chasteen also said that Santorum’s Catholicism, in a state where only a small minority practices the religion, was not an issue for him. “I have a lot of Catholic friends," he joked. "They just believe different from what I do. Maybe we can get him converted!”

CONCORD, NH -- GOP presidential hopeful Jon Huntsman today strongly objected to a video made by an apparent Ron Paul supporter about his two adopted daughters and his ability to speak Mandarin Chinese.

"It's just stupid," he told a group of college students today. "If someone wants to poke fun at me for speaking Chinese, that's okay. What I object to is bringing forward pictures and videos of my adopted daughters, suggesting that there is some sinister motive there."

Huntsman went onto describe how 12-year-old Gracie, who often appears on the campaign trail at his side, was found in a vegetable market in China and taken to an orphanage, from which Huntsman and his wife Mary Kaye adopted her. At campaign stops throughout New Hampshire, Huntsman often playfully introduces Gracie his "senior foreign policy adviser."

Send in your questions for Sunday's NBC News-Facebook debate on Meet the Press

The video, posted by a user named NHLiberty4Paul on YouTube, questions Huntsman's American values and calls him a "Manchurian candidate," before showing Huntsman with a Mao Zedong suit super imposed on his likeness. The video also features images of him with his adopted daughters Gracie Mei and Asha, who were born in China and India, respectively.

Yesterday, Huntsman's campaign spokesman Tim Miller condemned the video as "offensive" and called on Ron Paul and the people who created the video to apologize to the Huntsman family.

The Paul campaign immediately responded and called the video "utterly distasteful."

"Anyone who would post something like this is clearly not a supporter of Dr. Paul's principles," said Kate Schackai, Paul's New Hampshire media coordinator.

The user did not immediately respond with comment, and NBC News has not yet been able to confirm if NHLiberty4Paul is indeed a Paul supporter.

When asked whether Paul himself should apologize, Huntsman told reporters, "If the group is in any way affiliated with his organization of course he should. It's just political campaign nonsense. It happens from time to time."

But ever the diplomat, Huntsman steered the conversation to a larger lesson, telling his college-aged audience that Gracie and Asha are "a daily reminder that there are a lot of kids in this world who don't have the breaks that you do and who face a very, very uncertain future that lacks health care that lacks the ability to dream and plan and any sense of upward mobility."

"Now these two girls are on the presidential campaign trail," Huntsman said. "I say, how cool is that?"

Huntsman's oldest three daughters have been particularly active on Twitter, campaigning for their dad as the @Jon2012girls.

The general election is shaping up to be a fight over the middle class. Both President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, the GOP frontrunner, have continuously argued in speeches that their policies would most help the middle class.

But Romney’s argument took a hit last night, undercut by a detailed analysis by nonpartisan Tax Policy Center that showed Romney’s plan focuses tax cuts on the rich, while cutting taxes marginally for the middle class. It also would effectively raise taxes on those making less than $40,000 a year, the analysis found, when tax cuts put in place by Obama would be allowed to expire.

Send in your questions for Sunday's NBC News-Facebook debate on Meet the Press

"If I'm going to use precious dollars to reduce taxes, I want to focus on where the people are hurting the most, and that's the middle class," Romney said at an Oct. 11 debate. “"I'm not worried about rich people. They are doing just fine. The very poor have a safety net; they're taken care of. But the people in the middle, the hard-working Americans, are the people who need a break. And that is why I focused my tax cut right there."

On Oct. 5, he said the middle class was a victim of “friendly fire” from Obama, who contends he is a “warrior for the middle class.” “If that's the case, I think there has been a severe case of friendly fire,” Romney said. “Because he has not done what the middle class of America needs to have a prosperous and bright future. In fact almost everything he did has hurt the middle class."

But those are increasingly difficult arguments to make when, under Romney’s plan, those making more than $1 million a year would see a tax cut of about $146,000, a 6.9 perent change in after-tax income, while those making between $50,000 and $75,000 would see just an average tax cut of about $250, just a 3.3 percent change, according to the center’s analysis.

In fact, not only is the amount of after-tax income greater the higher the income level, but the percent change also increases the more money someone makes.

The Romney campaign takes issue with the analysis, especially considering these assumptions in the center’s analysis: “TPC’s analysis measures the change in tax liabilities against two alternative baselines: current law, which assumes that the 2001-10 tax cuts all expire in 2013 as scheduled, and current policy, which assumes that the 2011 law is permanent (except for the one-year payroll tax cut and temporary investment incentives). Compared with the current law baseline, the Romney plan would cut taxes for about three-fourths of taxpayers by an average of more than $4,700. In contrast, compared with current policy, about 13 percent of tax units would see their 2015 taxes go up an average of more than $900 while 42 percent would get tax cuts averaging nearly $2,900.”

Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said in an email: “Mitt Romney has not proposed raising taxes. In fact, he laid out a blueprint for governing that includes dramatic spending cuts to reduce the deficit and pro-growth tax policies that permanently extend the Bush tax cuts, dramatically cut the corporate tax rate to create jobs, and deliver real tax relief to middle-income taxpayers. President Obama has raised taxes 19 times, stunting our economic growth and leading us further down the path toward a European-style entitlement society.”

Here’s how the numbers break down from the Tax Policy Center’s table:

Less than $10,000: $112 increase
$10,000-$20,000: $191 increase
$20,000-$30,000: $126 increase
$30,000-$40,000: $14 increase
$40,000-$50,000: $27 cut
$50,000-$75,000: $249 cut
$100,000-$200,000: $1,146 cut
$200,000-$500,000: $5,195 cut
$500,000-$1 million: $19,853
$1 million or more: $145,568

Mitt Romney holds a commanding lead in South Carolina in the latest CNN/Time/Opinion Research poll, paving a clear path for the former Massachusetts governor to pull off an unprecedented sweep of the three early states on his way to the Republican nomination.

Romney leads with 37%, a 17-point jump from early December, the last time the poll was conducted.

And who says momentum doesn't matter? The two candidates who finished in a virtual tie in Iowa -- Romney and Rick Santorum are first and second in the Palmetto State in the poll. Santorum though is further back with 19%, but that represents a 15-point bounce from the December poll.

Newt Gingrich has seen his huge 23-point lead in December completely evaporate. Gingrich is now third with 18%, a drop from 43% in the last poll.

Ron Paul also made a move, going from 6% to 12%, for fourth.

Another positive jobs report… A Tale of Two Santorums… Did Romney really win the Iowa caucuses? Or did Santorum?... Boston Globe backs Huntsman over Romney… The Tax Policy Center weighs in on Romney’s tax plan: big cuts for the wealthy, small cuts for middle class… Upcoming today and this weekend: new NBC-Marist poll on NH and Gop debate moderated by NBC's David Gregory… And Paul returns to the campaign trail.

Send in your questions for Sunday's NBC News-Facebook debate on Meet the Press

*** Another positive jobs report: When it comes to the 2012 presidential race, there’s a story this morning that’s more important than the latest back-and-forth on the campaign trail, more important than who actually won Iowa (and there’s now some question if Romney really won), and more important than whom the Boston Globe endorsed. That story? The December job figures. And here they are, and they’re good news for President Obama: Employers added 200,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate declined once again, this time to 8.5%. The AP: “A burst of hiring in December pushed the unemployment rate to its lowest level in nearly three years, giving the economy a boost at the end of 2011. The Labor Department says employers added a net 200,000 jobs last month and the unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent, the lowest since February 2009. The rate has dropped for four straight months. The hiring gains cap a six-month stretch in which the economy generated 100,000 jobs or more in each month. That hasn't happened since April 2006.”

*** A Tale of Two Santorums: While he was campaigning yesterday in New Hampshire, we captured a glimpse of both the Santorum who can catch fire and move on in this GOP primary fight, and the Santorum who can get marginalized and thrown off message. The catching fire part: When, earlier in the morning, he talked about his family, faith, and hard work. “The question is how did I get to where I am standing here before you, what  motivates to be here where I am and is there one event or a series of events, I would argue that it was a series of different events,” he said, per NBC’s Matt Loffman. It was very personal, like his speech after the Iowa caucuses were. It was the type of personal narrative that Romney just doesn't have: grandson of immigrants, a coal-miner grandfather, memories of strict Catholic school nuns, etc. The thrown off message part: When, later in the day, he debated college students over gay marriage, comparing it to polygamy. It was Santorum the snark with the college kids; the guy who could easily lose his cool.

*** Did Romney really win the Iowa caucuses? NBC’s Jamie Novogrod and Alex Moe report that the chairman of the Iowa Republican Party, Matt Strawn, issued a statement last night responding to a story from the Des Moines CBS affiliate story noting that there was a 20-vote discrepancy in rural Appanoose county, which is located along the Missouri line. Citing an interview with the vote counter, who asserts that 20 votes were mistakenly recorded for Romney, the story raises the question of whether the results of Tuesday's caucus might have been different -- and whether Santorum should have won. Said Strawn: "Iowa GOP rules provide for a two-week certification process for each of the 1,774 precincts. The Iowa GOP will announce the final, certified results of the 2012 Iowa caucuses following this process… Iowa GOP officials have been in contact with Appanoose County Republican officials tonight and do not have any reason to believe the final, certified results of Appanoose County will change the outcome of Tuesday's vote." But what if Santorum really won?

*** Boston Globe backs Huntsman over Romney: Last night, Jon Huntsman got a boost when he picked up an endorsement from the Boston Globe, which passed over hometown reader Mitt Romney. And the endorsement was as much an indictment of Romney as it was an endorsement of Huntsman. “[W]hile Romney proceeds cautiously, strategically, trying to appease enough constituencies to get himself the nomination, Huntsman has been bold. Rather than merely sketch out policies, he articulates goals and ideals.” It’s worth noting that the Globe endorsed John McCain over Romney in the ’08 race, and that Boston’s other newspaper -- the Herald -- supports Romney in this contest. Yet we do have to ask: How influential is the liberal-leaning Boston Globe editorial page with nearby New Hampshire GOP primary voters?

*** Tax Policy Center on Romney’s plan: Big cuts for the wealthy, small ones for middle class: Romney got some more bad news yesterday when the non-partisan Tax Policy Center weighed in on his economic/tax plan. The verdict, according to the Wall Street Journal: “The analysis … concluded that Mr. Romney’s plan would reduce taxes significantly for high-income earners (by 6.9% or $146,000 for households making more than $1 million), and increase federal deficits by $180 billion in 2015 compared to current tax levels.” More: “The TPC analysis also concluded Mr. Romney’s plan would raise taxes slightly for low-income families, largely because the former Massachusetts governor would allow some Obama-era tax breaks to expire.” The AP puts it this way: “Households making between $50,000 and $75,000 would get small tax cuts, averaging 2.2 percent, or about $250, the study said. People making more than $1 million would get tax cuts averaging 15 percent, or about $146,000.” According to the Tax Policy Center’s table, everyone who makes less than $40,000 a year would see a tax increase. The more you make, the better you do.

*** Paul returns to the campaign trail: By the way, it’s worth noting that Ron Paul – after his absence on Wednesday and Thursday -- returns to the campaign trail today, holding events in Nashua, NH and Durham, NH. Just as we asked when Paul left the Iowa campaign trail last weekend, we wonder: If he doesn’t finish in second place on Tuesday, will his absence be a reason why?

*** Things to watch today and this weekend: Tonight, we will have a new NBC-Marist poll on the state of the New Hampshire race… And this weekend, we’ll see two GOP debates, including one on Sunday moderated by NBC’s David Gregory.

*** On the trail: Elsewhere in New Hampshire today, Santorum stumps in Keene, Jaffrey, Dublin, Manchester, and Nashua… Huntsman hits Concord, Randolph, and Bretton Woods… And Gingrich campaigns in Levanon and Salem… And Romney this morning remains in South Carolina, where he campaigns in Conway with Sen. John McCain and Gov. Nikki Haley, and then he and Haley head to Tilton, NH.

Countdown to New Hampshire primary: 4 days
Countdown to South Carolina primary: 15 days
Countdown to Florida primary: 25 days
Countdown to Nevada caucuses: 29 days
Countdown to Super Tuesday: 60 daysCountdown to Election Day: 305 days

Click here to sign up for First Read emails.
Text FIRST to 622639, to sign up for First Read alerts to your mobile phone.
Check us out on Facebook and also on Twitter. Follow us @chucktodd, @mmurraypolitics, @DomenicoNBC, @brookebrower

*** Friday's “Daily Rundown" line-up (live from New Hampshire): Moody's Mark Zandi and President Obama's CEA Chair Alan Krueger react to the new job numbers… Romney supporter Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) on Tuesday's expectations… NBC's Ron Mott and Peter Alexander with reports from the trail… more 2012 primary news with Newsweek/The Daily Beast's Lois Romano, National Journal's Beth Reinhard and Republican strategist Phil Musser.

*** Friday’s “Jansing & Co.” line-up: MSNBC’s Chris Jansing interviews former Clinton/Gore pollster Stan Greenberg, New York Times’ Charles Blow, RCP’s Erin McPike, campaign ad guru Bob Mann, and Comcast DC Bureau Chief Robert Traynham.

*** Friday’s “MSNBC Live with Thomas Roberts” line-up:  MSNBC’S Thomas Roberts talks with Abby Huntsman Livingston (Jon Huntsman’s daughter), Meghan McCain, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden (on Cordray recess appointment), Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire, Jared Bernstein, Tony Fratto and Karen Hunter.

*** Friday’s “NOW with Alex Wagner” line-up: Alex Wagner’s guests include Herman Cain, Mary Kaye Huntsman, Steve Kornacki of Salon.com, the Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart, Politico’s Ben White, and S.E. Cupp

*** Friday’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” line-up (from Manchester, NH): NBC’s Andrea Mitchell interviews GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman, former New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, USA Today’s Susan Page, Bloomberg’s Jonathan Alter, CNBC’s Ron Insana on the jobs report, Strategists Bill Burton and Michael Steele, former Gingrich spokesman Rick Tyler, Southern Baptist Convention President Richard Land, and the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza.

*** Saturday’s (and Sunday’s) “UP with Chris Hayes” line-up: On Saturday, MSNBC’s Chris Hayes interviews -- among others -- Randy Johnson (former worker who was laid off after Bain Capital takeover) and writer Thomas Frank. On Sunday, he interviews Lin-Manuel Miranda.

CAIN: “The Cain train may be stuck in the station, but now Herman Cain is on the move again: with a bus tour,” the New York Daily News writes. “The former Republican presidential hopeful will take to the highway to rally support for his plan to replace the current tax code with a flat 9% tax on national sales, personal income and corporate income.”

GINGRICH: Gingrich has previously derided food stamps, called President Obama the “food stamp president” because more people are on food stamps, and has said he would go to the NAACP convention and all neighborhoods to talk about how to reduce dependency. But yesterday, he took it a step further, making an explicit connection to the black community. “And so I’m prepared, if the NAACP invites me, I’ll go to their convention to talk about why the African American community should demand pay checks and not be satisfied with food stamps,” he said.

African Americans make up 28% of those receiving food stamps, while 60% of those on food stamps are white, according to the U.S. Census.

This morning on the CBS Early Show, Gingrich offered a defense, of sorts: Asked why he said African Americans are satisfied with food stamps, Gingrich retorted, "I said they shouldn't be … I didn't say they were satisfied. … I'm saying we should reach out to every American ... what I said was that every American ... every American of every background should have an opportunity to get a job, not depend on food stamps ... I'm actually for conservatives going into every ethnic neighborhood" to help people find more economic opportunities.”

He also lashed out at Romney, saying that Romney claiming he’s a conservative is like a “Saturday Night Live skit.” “I think we’ll do better in New Hampshire than people expect because when you start to describe a Massachusetts Moderate and you remind people of his record, they suddenly they go, ‘Oh yeah, he’s not a conservative,’” Gingrich said. “It’s a joke for him to call himself a conservative.  It’s a Saturday Night Live skit.”

Here’s what else Gingrich said of Romney, per NBC’s Morgan Parmet: “I think he's had a free ride and as we explain what it's been like having a Massachusetts moderate as governor, I think the support may melt pretty rapidly …. I thought it was very telling after the millions that he spent, he only got 25 percent in Iowa. Three-out-of-four Iowa Republicans said, ‘No,’ so I don't see him as much of front runner frankly.”

He later called him potentially “the weakest frontrunner in history.” “He will continue to get 25%. Now, by definition at some point in that game, somebody else is going to start getting a lot more votes than Gov. Romney. … It depends on what he wins [other states] with. If he wins at 25%, this would be the weakest frontrunner in history."

On Santorum: "If you look at the total level of experience, I think that I am substantially more experienced than Rick is at actually running a very large government operation."  Then he called him a “junior partner.” "I would say in terms of, if you think of us as partners, he would clearly in historical experience, have been the junior partner.  He's not a bad person; I want to be clear about this.  But I don't know that he has any track record of being able to organize a large scale campaign that I'm describing or being able to then govern on a large scale.  And I think that's important. I don't think you want to just hire somebody to get through the election, you want to hire somebody to actually change Washington."

“Newt Gingrich’s crybaby past is coming back to haunt him,” the New York Daily News writes. “Gingrich, who is not just taking barbs from GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney, was greeted in a New Hampshire bar by a woman holding a blowup of a cartoon depicting him in diapers. That illustration invoked a famed Daily News frontpage that depicted Gingrich as an infant during the 1995 federal government shutdown - but the former Speaker may be negotiating to ward off one source of attacks.”

HUNTSMAN: He won the Boston Globe’s endorsement. But the editorial is as much about Mitt Romney as it is Jon Huntsman. (The Globe is essentially Romney’s hometown paper, as he governed there and maintains a residence in Massachusetts): “Already, the religious right, represented by Rick Santorum, and Tea Party activists, represented by Ron Paul, have pushed Romney in unwanted directions. In New Hampshire, Republican and independent voters have a chance, through Huntsman, to show him a sturdier model. Jon Huntsman would be a better president. But if he fails, he could still make Romney a better candidate.”

ROMNEY: This is not the headline Romney camp wants as it tries to make the argument that his policies would be better for the middle class – “Mitt Romney tax plan would cut taxes on rich, raise taxes on poor, analysis suggests,” the Boston Globe writes of an analysis released by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. From the analysis, per the Globe: “While millions of households would see tax cuts, thousands of poor Americans would see their tax bills rise, by an average of $1,000, because of changes to child and earned income credits. Those making more than $1 million a year would get a tax cut of about $150,000 -- amounting to about half of the total tax cuts he proposes.”

“Four years ago, coming off a big win in Iowa, then-Senator Barack Obama came to New Hampshire confident. He drew huge crowds, forcing supporters to wait hours in the cold to catch a glimpse,” the Boston Globe notes. “His speeches were well received, and the energy around his campaign was clear. But by election day, voters seemed to deliver a message to Obama: not so fast. Instead, they gave Hillary Clinton new life and dealt Obama a setback that prolonged the race. Mitt Romney’s team has studied that campaign as a cautionary tale. They are the front-runner that doesn’t want to appear as one in a state that likes to surprise. They are planning some weekend rallies, but so far have focused on town hall meetings and smaller events, hoping it allows voters to ask questions and have more personal interactions.”

SANTORUM: He said of Romney and Gingrich, per NBC’s Morgan Parmet: "I've never been for government run health care. Ever. Unlike the other two candidates who have been running here.”

The New York Post: “Rickin’ and rollin’.” “Granite State voters are giving GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum a fresh look, and they like what they see,” the New York Post notes. “Feeling a bounce from his strong No. 2 finish in the Iowa caucus, Santorum yesterday climbed past Newt Gingrich into third place in New Hampshire, according to Suffolk University’s first post-Iowa poll.” Still, Santorum is at just 8%, while Romney’s at 41%.

He broke into double digits nationally jumping up 3 points to 11% in Gallup’s tracking poll. Romney leads with 27%, Gingrich is down 3 to 19% and Ron Paul grabs 13%.

“In an interview on CNN, Rick Santorum tried to distance himself from comments he made 9 years ago which most took as equating homosexuality with bestiality and pedophilia,” Political Wire notes. “Santorum to the AP in 2003: ‘In every society, the definition of marriage has not ever to my knowledge included homosexuality. That's not to pick on homosexuality. It's not, you know, man on child, man on dog, or whatever the case may be. It is one thing.’ Santorum, yesterday: ‘I didn't connect them. I excluded them.’”

“President Barack Obama plans to visit the offices of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Friday and meet with the staff,” the AP writes. “His visit comes just two days after appointing Richard Cordray to lead the watchdog agency, using a Senate recess to circumvent Republican opposition.”

“Declaring that ‘the tide of war is receding,’ President Obama Thursday ordered a shift from the nation's longstanding capability to fight two major conflicts at once,” the New York Daily News reports. “The new strategy, which critics will surely brand as a retreat, calls for being able to fight one major conventional conflict while conducting numerous unconventional operations elsewhere, such as policing actions, counterterrorism and disaster relief.”

As Republicans point out, various fact checkers didn’t think the Obama campaign’s “Promises Kept” Web video is completely accurate.

The Washington Post’s fact checker gives Obama one Pinocchio for what it sees as going too far. FactCheck.org writes, “To be sure, the president signed a major health care law, ended the long war in Iraq and signed multiple ‘middle-class’ tax cuts, just as his campaign boasts. But the health care law isn’t expected to make insurance ‘affordable and available to every single American,’ as Obama promised. And though he pledged to be a president who ‘brings our troops home’ from Iraq, thousands of those U.S. troops are now stationed in neighboring Kuwait. Most glaringly, he has failed at ‘bringing Democrats and Republicans together’ as he so optimistically promised four years ago.”

The chairman of the Iowa Republican Party issued a statement Thursday night in response to a story from the Des Moines CBS affiliate, KCCI, which reports there was a 20-vote discrepancy in rural Appanoose county, which is located along the Missouri line.

Citing an interview with the vote counter, who asserts that 20 votes were mistakenly recorded for Mitt Romney, the story raises the question of whether the results of Tuesday's caucus might have been different -- and whether Rick Santorum should have won.

Send in your questions for Sunday's NBC News-Facebook debate on Meet the Press

Iowa GOP Chairman Matt Strawn said in a statement that Tuesday's results are unofficial. The state party is in the process of certifying results now. But Strawn says he does not believe the outcome will change.

"Iowa GOP officials have been in contact with Appanoose County Republican officials tonight and do not have any reason to believe the final, certified results of Appanoose County will change the outcome of Tuesday's vote," Strawn said.

The results must be certified within 14 days of the morning after the contest.

Also, remember, the Iowa caucus is non-binding, meaning delegates to the convention are not obligated to support the caucus winner. In other words, the caucus exists outside of the convention's nominating process.

Full statement below from Strawn:

"Iowa GOP rules provide for a two-week certification process for each of the 1,774 precincts. The Iowa GOP will announce the final, certified results of the 2012 Iowa Causes following this process. Out of respect to the candidates involved, party officials we will not respond to every rumor, innuendo or allegation during the two week process. That said, Iowa GOP officials have been in contact with Appanoose County Republican officials tonight and do not have any reason to believe the final, certified results of Appanoose County will change the outcome of Tuesday's vote."

Update ****

In an interview with Fox News, Santorum said he had been informed by Strawn that there were two errors in reporting, a 20-vote mistake in his favor and a 21-vote error in Romney's favor, which would give Romney a net gain of one vote on top of his 8-vote margin.  Of the potential mistake, Santorum said, "that doesn't really matter to me.  This was a tie."

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- With just five days to go until the New Hampshire primary, former Utah governor Jon Huntsman's most threatening opponent may not be Mitt Romney or Rick Santorum, but Father Time.

"We've got the tyranny of the clock moving against us now. And we're moving as quickly as we can," he said in Portsmouth today, citing his late entry into the race this summer.

Huntsman, who finished serving as Barack Obama's ambassador to China in May, has campaigned aggressively in New Hampshire and skipped Iowa over the past six months. However, with less than a week to go, he remains stuck in high single digits in state polls.

Send in your questions for Sunday's NBC News-Facebook debate on Meet the Press

With time running out, Huntsman admits he needs a "market moving event" to keep his candidacy alive. Consequently, he has ratcheted up his attacks on front-runner Romney, after criticizing the former Massachusetts governor as an "establishment" and "status quo" candidate for the last week.

"The people of New Hampshire will not be told for whom to vote," Huntsman told an audience of about 300 tonight in Newport. "They want people to earn their vote, as opposed to sitting down in South Carolina, so certain of victory."

Huntsman was referring to Romney's Thursday trip to South Carolina, where he will campaign before returning to New Hampshire Friday afternoon.

The former ambassador to China added that Romney is resting on his laurels as he enjoys a wide lead in New Hampshire polls. By spending time outside of the first-in-the-nation state, Huntsman said, "That would pretty much suggest that you feel you've got it wrapped up and that would be taking the voters for granted."

Meanwhile, Huntsman is searching for every last vote he can find in a style that resembles Rick Santorum's town-by-town Iowa campaign.

 "I need your vote," he routinely bellows into the microphone at town hall meetings.

Huntsman hopes his handshake-by-handshake method will pay off. Santorum's near win in Iowa, he said, proved that "grassroots politicking still means something."

"You can't Twitter your way to prosperity. You can't Facebook your way to prosperity. You have to be in the state," Huntsman said today.

One voter in Portsmouth pointed out to Huntsman today that his long-shot campaign for the GOP nomination resembles a David versus Goliath effort, with Romney as Goliath. Huntsman agreed, then paused and tried to add a positive spin: "New Hampshire loves an underdog!" he said hopefully.

COLUMBIA, S.C. – The daughters of two presidential candidates – Newt Gingrich and Jon Huntsman – made appeals on behalf of their fathers to a Republican women’s club here tonight, one damning her father’s opponents with faint praise, the others making an electability argument for their dad.

Addressing about 30 members of the Capital City Republican Women’s Club, Jackie Gingrich Cushman, Gingrich’s daughter with his first wife, first said Rick Santorum, who finished a close second in the Iowa caucus, is a “great guy” and seemed to praise his Congressional record.

“If you remember with the debates,” she said, “he’d mention that he did welfare reform… under Newt Gingrich. And then he did something else… under Newt Gingrich,” she said.

She also seemed to commiserate with the Santorum campaign, saying that the newly high-flying candidate would be bombarded with negative ads just like Gingrich was in Iowa. But, she added, her father was able to weather those attacks, and would be able to handle the general election onslaught.

“People say, ‘can Newt Gingrich survive a billion dollars from the Obama campaign?’ The answer is absolutely yes. He can survive it and he’s been through it in Iowa.”

Santorum was not the only object/target of Cushman’s praise/criticism, as she also took on Rick Perry and Mitt Romney.

“[Perry’s] a great guy, he’s done very well in Texas, he’s a very good governor of Texas. But Texas is different from a national scene,” she said. “A part-time Texas legislature is very different than having full-time people in Washington that are determined to stay there and do what they do best. It is a different world.”

As her father has in the past, Cushman called Romney a “great businessman.”

“Anyone can tell you he’s a great businessman. He is. I’m just not sure we need to send the best businessman to Washington to manage something.”

Cushman ended her speech with a personal story about her father, talking about how, as a boy, he rescued his dog Pride from under the cracked ice of a frozen pond in Pennsylvania. In the process, Cushman said, he fell under the ice himself.

“He’s literally under the ice. And he said that’s when he learned in his life not to panic. Because he knew if he panicked, he would die,” she said.

Cushman said the story accomplished two goals: “I think it shows you that he doesn’t panic. And I think you see that as he progresses in this campaign. The other reason is because I think it shows you a window into who he is as a person.”

“That he is a man who would risk his life to save his dog,” she continued.

Jon Huntsman’s daughters Mary Anne and Liddy – two thirds of the “Jon 2012 Girls,” addressed the 20 women who remained in the room after Cushman left.

As she re-introduced herself and her sister (the two spoke to the club over the summer), Mary Anne Huntsman referenced their popularity on YouTube, saying, “we’ve made a couple of videos, maybe you’ve seen them,” as the women chuckled.

Liddy Huntsman called her father the “modern candidate” who would restore a sense of trust that she said has been lost during the Obama administration.

“I think our generation, we were promised hope and change four years ago,” she said. “The fact that we’re being handed down a country that is less good, less confident, is unacceptable.”

Mary Anne touted what she characterized as her father’s ability to go toe-to-toe with President Obama, for whom Huntsman worked as ambassador to China.

“Another huge thing in electing a candidate is the electability factor. We need someone who can really go against Barack Obama,” she said.

CONCORD, N.H. -- Rick Santorum left the stage of a town-hall meeting to a chorus of boos Thursday after getting into a contentious debate over gay marriage with an audience comprised of mostly young people.

Speaking at the 2012 "College Convention" here, the fireworks started when a student asked Santorum why he opposed gay marriage. Santorum's rhetorical style when answering questions is often to ask question back to the audience. But his questions soon prompted shouting from members of the nearly 200-person crowd, which led to an, at times, hostile back and forth.

"How about the idea that all men are created [with] equal rights to happiness and liberty?" a woman in the audience asked the former Pennsylavnia senator after he stated his opposition to gay marriage.

Santorum retorted, "Are we saying that everyone should have the right to marry?"

When the audience member told him yes, he shot back, "So anyone can marry can marry anybody else, so, if that’s the case, then everyone can marry several people."

As more students shouted, Santorum tried to end the discussion that had devolved into students shouting over each other in an attempt to drown out Santorum's words. While he was briefly able to steer the conversation away from the controversial issue, the candidate found himself in the same dangerous territory when a crowd member asked if he would adhere to the conservative pillar of state's rights in cases when a state legalizes gay marriage and medical marijuana.

"I think there are some things that are essential elements of society to which a society rests that we have to have a consensus on," Santorum said. "That's why I believe on things as essential as 'what is life' and what life is protected under the Constitution should be a federal charge, not a state by state."

He then admitted he was not familiar with medical marijuana laws, which led the crowd to press him on how he came to developing his views on issues he was unfamiliar with.

"Well I form that opinion from my own life experiences and having experienced that," he said. "I went to college too."

Campaigning in New Hampshire over the past two days, Santorum focused on entitlement reform, dinging President Obama over his fiscal record and what Santorum sees as mishandling foreign policy. But in front of the mostly young audience, he returned to the strong social-conservative message that resonated with many evangelical voters in Iowa. Even before the question-and-answer portion, he spoke about what he sees as the Judeo-Christian values America was founded on.

After the event, Santorum dismissed the hostile environment, saying only that he wanted "to engage them to get them thinking about why they're thinking the way you're thinking."

Democratic-aligned Super PACs are going after Mitt Romney on what they depict as essentially his own Solyndra, a further sign that Democrats see the writing on the wall and that they believe Romney will be President Obama's opponent this fall.

A video produced by American Bridge, called “Romney’s energy loan hypocrisy,” hits Romney for loans made while he was governor of Massachusetts to two companies that eventually failed or moved away – and had ties to Romney campaign donors.

The video starts off with Romney saying the following on FOX: “The whole idea of the federal government investing in these companies, particularly when there’s such a connection with Democratic fundraisers leaves a very bad taste in people’s minds and suggests a pattern of crony capitalism and that’s something for which Americans simply can’t stand for.”

And then a title comes up on the screen with “Pattern of crony capitalism??? You should know Mitt.” It then hits Romney for loans to companies called “Acusphere” and “Spherics.”

Citing a Boston Herald piece from December, Priorities USA Action pens a memo, stating: “When Romney was Governor of Massachusetts, ‘the state handed out $4.5 million in loans to two firms run by his campaign donors that have since defaulted, leaving taxpayers holding the bag.’ Romney lured one of the companies to Massachusetts by offering a direct loan from the state and his Administration bragged about using government loans to attract business.”

Full memo below:

TO:      Interested Parties

FR:      Bill Burton, Priorities USA Action

Video: American Bridge 21st Century

RE:      Memo: Candidate Romney’s Attack Boomerangs on Governor Romney

Mitt Romney today has adopted the message of former Tea Party candidate Michele Bachmann in a transparent attempt to appeal to her extremist supporters. Romney’s phony outrage about “crony capitalism” is particularly surprising considering Romney’s record in Massachusetts.

When Romney was Governor of Massachusetts, “the state handed out $4.5 million in loans to two firms run by his campaign donors that have since defaulted, leaving taxpayers holding the bag.” Romney lured one of the companies to Massachusetts by offering a direct loan from the state and his Administration bragged about using government loans to attract business.   

But, now that Romney is running for President, he claims that government loans to private companies are “crony capitalism.” It’s the worst kind of hypocrisy from a candidate who has proven he will do or say anything to advance his political career. 

Background: Romney

Romney Today Accused Obama of Crony Capitalism. According to the Associated Press, “Mitt Romney on Thursday labeled President Barack Obama as a "crony capitalist," invoking a theme that Rep. Michele Bachmann used before she left the presidential race…As examples, Romney pointed to controversial appointments Obama made Wednesday to the National Labor Relations Board and to the bankruptcy of California energy company Solyndra after a $528 million federal loan from the Obama administration.” [Associated Press, 1/5/11]

Romney as Presidential Candidate: Government Investing in Companies of Contributors is “Crony Capitalism” On Fox News, Romney said, “The whole idea of the federal government investing in these companies, particularly when there’s such a connection with Democratic fund-raisers, leaves a very bad taste in people’s minds and suggests a pattern of crony capitalism. And that’s something which America simply can’t stand for.” [Fox News via Boston Globe, 11/17/11]

Romney as Governor: Two Companies Run by Campaign Contributors Received Government Loans Then Defaulted. According to the Boston Herald, “GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has hammered President Obama for his administration’s tax-funded investment blunders — but when Romney was governor, the state handed out $4.5 million in loans to two firms run by his campaign donors that have since defaulted, leaving taxpayers holding the bag. The two companies — Acusphere and Spherics Inc. — stiffed the state on nearly $2.1 million in loans provided through the state’s Emerging Technology Fund, a $25 million investment program created while Romney was governor in 2003 that benefitted 13 local firms. Acusphere, a biotechnology firm headed by a Romney campaign donor, got $2 million in 2004 that it was supposed to put toward a $20 million manufacturing facility in Tewksbury, which never became fully operational. Calls to Acusphere’sheadquarters in Lexington were not returned.” [Boston Herald, 12/1/11]

Romney Jobs Plan in Massachusetts Based on Government Loans to Private Companies. According to the Boston Herald, “Romney's effort would use $ 8 million for low-interest loans to help with operational expenses at distressed firms looking to stay or expand here, D'Souza said. Romney would also direct $ 10 million toward grants andloans for high-tech companies that agree to create at least 250 jobs in thestate in a year, D'Souza said. That would come from $ 25 million the Legislature recently approved for an "emerging technology fund."” [Boston Herald, 3/23/04]

“Romney lured Spherics, a pharmaceutical company, away from Rhode Island by offering a $2.5 million direct loan” According to the Washington Examiner, “Romney didn’t compete for business through lower taxes and regulation: He tried to enticethem to the state with special subsidies. In 2005, Romney lured Spherics, apharmaceutical company, away from Rhode Island by offering a $2.5 million direct loan from the states Emerging Technology Fund. That same year, he signed a bill creating the Massachusetts Film Office that wasempowered to hand out special tax credits to studios filming movies in the Bay State.” [Washington Examiner, 5/16/11]

Romney Administration Took Credit forRelocating Spherics to Massachusetts. According to a press release from the State of Massachusetts, the Romney Administration took credit for luring Spherics toMassachusetts with the $2.5 million loan."Creating and fostering a business-friendly environment attracts companies like Spherics," said Ranch C. Kimball, Governor Mitt Romney's secretary of economic development and chair of MassDevelopment. "Spherics' move is a tangible result of the combined and coordinated efforts of the public and private sectors to highlight the benefits of locating in Massachusetts." [MA Release, 8/12/05]

The latest in an occasional First Read series on the candidates’ financial disclosures.

On the campaign trail, Rick Santorum emphasizes his working-class roots. But since leaving the U.S. Senate, that grandson of an immigrant coal miner hasn’t done so badly for himself.

Though Santorum may not be the wealthiest candidate running, he is still a millionaire. And he made that money in ways that were undoubtedly in large measure because he was a senator -- a common practice for former members of Congress.

From January 2010 to August 2011, Santorum made between $1.4 million and $1.6 million, according to a review of his financial disclosure. His total net worth is between $526,000 and $2.3 million, far lower than many of the candidates running, including his chief rival Mitt Romney. Romney is worth between $190 million and $250 million. (FULL PDF OF FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE HERE.)

The single-largest source of Santorum's income was $395,414, for sitting on the board of Universal Health Services, a Pennsylvania-based hospital-management company. He joined the company’s board in April 2007, just months after losing his battle for reelection in 2006 and leaving the Senate in January of that year.

In January 2007, he joined a Washington-based conservative advocacy group, the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where, as a senior fellow in the last year and a half, he made $217,385.

A month later he joined FOX News as a contributor. In 2010 and half of 2011, Santorum made $239,153 from NewsCorp, which owns FOX. (He also made more than $100,000 for other media contracts, including $83,999 from Salem Radio as a radio host, and $23,000 from the Philadelphia Inquirer as a columnist.)

Newt Gingrich faced criticism for taking between $1.6 million and $1.8 million for giving Freddie Mac “strategic advice” after he left Congress. Santorum didn’t engage in the pile on. Other candidates said Gingrich should give the money back. But on a radio show in Iowa in mid-December, Santorum gave Gingrich a pass.

“Newt was a private businessman who went out and engaged in a contract and I’m sure he earned that money and if he earned the money, I don’t see any reason he should give it back,” he said. “That’s just gotcha politics. I’m not going to play that game.”

That could be because Santorum himself had several such contracts. In the last year and a half, Santorum took more than $300,000 for “consulting,” including with a Washington-based lobbying firm.

Six months after he left Congress, Santorum -- who grew up in Western Pennsylvania and represented a district in Congress there in the early 1990s -- joined Consol Energy as a “consultant.” Consol bills itself as “the leading diversified energy producer headquartered in the Appalachian basin” and also has its name on the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey arena. It paid Santorum $142,500 in the last year and a half for “energy policy consulting services.”

He made $65,000 from American Continental Group, a DC-based lobbying firm, for “legislative policy consulting services.” And he made $125,000 from a DC-based public-relations firm, the Clapham Group, also for “consulting services.”

Much of the rest of his money comes from five rental properties in State College, PA. Those, valued between $500,005 and $1.3 million, brought in between $75,005 and $250,000 in the last year and a half for him.

He doesn’t have much in the way of an investment portfolio. He has between $100,001 and $250,000 in stock with Universal Health Services, as well as 10 E-Trade accounts valued at between $10,010 and $150,000. He has a checking account valued at between $50,001 and $100,000, 36 IRAs valued at between $211,000 and $1.1 million, and 18 529 plans valued between $18,000 and $270,000.

Santorum also has liabilities totaling between $365,00 and $800,00, including two mortgages on his State College rental properties ($350,000 to $750,000) and a Ford auto loan that isn't paid off yet ($15,000 to $50,000).

NBC’s Adam Perez contributed to this report.

BRENTWOOD, N.H. -- Fresh off an impressive second-place finish in the Iowa caucus, Rick Santorum on Wednesday landed here hoping the same message he preached through his barnstorming tour of Iowa will be the one that keeps him in the spotlight after the Granite State's primary.

The newest presidential candidate to surge in the polls told New Hampshire voters almost verbatim what he echoed down the final stretch of his Iowa campaign. "You fight to be first. You have a responsibility in doing that, and that is to lead, not pay attention to what the polls or pundits say," he told a crowd of nearly 120 people.

His first stop in the state since the New Year showed promise. A packed house of primary voters showed a renewed interest in a candidate who just weeks ago was largely written off as a non-factor in the first-in-nation-primary.

"People have asked me repeatedly, 'Well, you know Rick, you've done well in Iowa, but you know New Hampshire's such a different place and it's just nothing like Iowa," said Santorum.  "I said, 'They're all Americans, they all have the same fundamental values that our founders put in place."

He was polling in single digits in Iowa before his surge. In New Hampshire, he was at just 5% in the last Suffolk tracking poll conducted before the Iowa caucuses. He got a slight bump today – he’s at 8% and in third place, but still well behind the months-long leader Mitt Romney, who pulls in 41%. Ron Paul is second with 18%.

The former Pennsylvania senator answered nearly every question from voters in a town hall meeting that lasted nearly two hours. While some grumbling in the audience could be heard during Santorum's many lengthy answers, the questions kept coming.

Even before he arrived, Santorum touted that former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman is the only candidate to eclipse him in the amount of time spent the state. But he also has acknowledged the uphill battle he now faces in a race in which Romney has a commanding lead. Santorum will on Sunday campaign in South Carolina, a move that shows he is focused beyond just New Hampshire. There, like Iowa, 60% of GOP primary voters said they were evangelical or born-again Christians. But Rick Perry threatens to cut at least somewhat into what could be a strong base for Santorum. Romney figures to have a lock on establishment Republicans from the coast to the middle of the state.

Santorum barely mentioned any of his GOP rivals during his stumping in New Hampshire yesterday -- instead focusing on President Obama. He blasted the president for the recess appointment of Richard Cordray to head the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

"This is pretty scary stuff,” Santorum charged. “And -- you said -- I hope the United States Senate does what they're supposed to do, and they should go and even take the president to court. This is not something that the president should get away with.”

And the candidate known for his emphasis on family values faced a question about his own family, namely a nephew who wrote an op-ed in support of Ron Paul.

"Of our 35 nieces and nephews, it’s pretty good," Santorum joked. "He's a Ron Paul supporter. God bless him. I mean, it’s a phase; I understand it. I mean, we all go through those things."

Santorum will make five stops through the Granite State today.

NBC's Domenico Montanaro contributed to this report.