Slideshow: Election 2012

On the heels of the slimmest Iowa caucus victory in history, Mitt Romney’s 16-point win in last night's New Hampshire Republican primary was the second-largest margin of victory for a non-incumbent in more than 30 years. In 1980, Ronald Reagan beat George H.W. Bush by nearly 27 points. Back then, Reagan captured just less than 50% of the vote compared with Bush’s 22.7%.

And in 2000, John McCain bested George W. Bush by more than 18 percentage points.

Romney’s win last night also was better than average. Since 1972, non-incumbent New Hampshire victors have won by an average of about 12 percentage points. But the high margin of victory could be due to an usually high diffusion of the remaining vote between the other candidates. Non-incumbent winners received, on average, slightly under 40 percent of the total vote, nearly identical to Romney’s share Tuesday night.

*** Note *** A earlier version of this story noted that Romney's win was the largest margin since Reagan. As it turns out, McCain got an 18-point win in New Hampshire in 2000. So Romney's is the second largest.

While Mitt Romney tonight over-performed among the groups he struggled with in Iowa -- conservatives, Tea Party supporters, evangelicals -- he didn't fare as well among middle-class and lower-class GOP primary voters.

According to the exit polls, Romney got 51% from those making $200,000 or more, and he got 45% among those making between $100,000 and $199,999 -- higher than the total 36% where he currently stands in New Hampshire.

But among those making less than $30,000, he captured just 31%. And among those making between $30,000 and $49,999, he got 32%. And among those making $50,000 to $99,999, he got 35%.

EXETER NH--Ending his New Hampshire marathon exactly where he first began it, Jon Huntsman delivered his closing argument to his biggest ever crowd in the Granite State, hoping that his weekend surge will be enough to propel him to South Carolina.

“Something is happening out there,” Huntsman said, basking in deafening cheers at the quintessentially charming Exeter Town Hall. “I have no idea what it is going to mean tomorrow night, but I do know this:  we’re going to surprise a whole lot of people in this country.”

Alex Wong / Getty Images

Jon Huntsman speaks to voters during a 'Restoring Trust Rally' in Exeter, New Hampshire.

Huntsman launched his Granite State strategy on June 21 in the same town hall. Later, New Hampshire would become the singular focus of shoe-string strategy that was once a three-state approach. His sudden surge over the past several days has been a welcome change for a candidate who usually spoke to crowds of a few dozen until very recently.

Huntsman also hammered home a new mantra: “Country First.” The phrase
-- which was first used in John McCain's 2008 campaign -- is a ninth hour addition to his stump speech, after front-runner Mitt Romney questioned Huntsman's decision to serve as US ambassador to China under Democratic incumbent Barack Obama in two debates last weekend.
The Huntsman campaign began airing an television advertisement slamming Romney's position and generated new lawn signs emblazoned with the tagline to drive the point home in the final hours before New Hampshire votes.

“Our movement is here to put our country first. We’re tired of people putting politics first,” Huntsman said of Romney as his Exeter crowd roared.

The sizeable rally, which was utterly unfathomable just one week ago, featured an energetic Huntsman who spent the day crisscrossing the state drawing a contrast between himself and Mitt Romney. Clad in a leather bomber jacket, Huntsman brought up Romney's debate comments repeatedly.

"It has become abundantly clear over the last couple of days what differentiates Gov. Romney and me," Huntsman told reporters in Concord today. "I will always put my country first. It seems that Gov. Romney believes in putting politics first. Gov. Romney enjoys firing people.
I enjoy creating jobs."

Huntsman was referring to a comment on health care by Romney earlier in the day, during which Romney answered a question on health care.

"I like being able to fire people who provide services to me," Romney said this morning. "If someone doesn't give me the good service I need, I want to say I am going to get somebody else to provide that service to me."

Huntsman spent most of his final full day on the New Hampshire trail kissing babies, dropping by diners and bakeries, and shaking hands with any voter who would give him their attention. Starting from the northern reaches of the state and slowly working his way south, Huntsman told voters he wanted to "twist your arm and earn your vote."

"We're looking for a little help," a hopeful Huntsman told voters in Nashua. "We need help in getting out the vote tomorrow. We've worked very, very hard...no one has worked this state like we have."

By evening, a cloudy moment momentarily dampened the otherwise ebuillient mood.

Huntsman's application to appear in the Arizona primary ballot was rejected because of a missing notarized signature today, according to the Arizona Secretary of State's Office. This comes after the former Utah governor missed ballot requirements in Virginia and Illinois. The Huntsman campaign vowed that it did complete the application and plans to litigate to put his name on the ballot.

But Huntsman himself remained focused on leveraging his weekend surge into a performance worthy of the many days he has spent in the Granite State.

"Are we ready to rock and roll tomorrow?" Huntsman bellowed in Exeter.
"We are ready to rock and roll!"

BEDFORD, NH-- Maybe it was sharing the stage with N.J. Gov. Chris Christie last night that did it, but Mitt Romney was ready to engage when Occupy protesters disrupted his rally for the second night in a row. 

As chants of "Live Free or Die, Always Occupy" broke out in a familiar refrain, and police closed in, Romney did something few in the hall expected, or had seen before. He told one protester to stop shouting and ask a real question.

"How about instead of shouting, why don't you say what you think, say your view. What’s your view madam, what do you think?" Romney asked. 

While the question was unclear - the protester was deep in the crowd - Romney's answer unambiguously laid the elevated role of money in presidential politics squarely at the feet of President Obama.

"The answer is, this president is spending money and has spent money, we have had over the history of this country a public funding plan for our presidents, and you know what? This president has been the first one to throw aside the public funding program to break all those barriers and to spend massively more than any president in history," Romney said. "This country is too important to hand over to President Obama for a second term."

In 2008, then candidate Obama chose to forgo matching public financing for his campaign, and ultimately spent a record $747 million dollars pursuing the White House - a controversial decision at the time. Romney had spent $17.6 million dollars this election cycle through the end of September, according to the latest filing data available.

With the crowd energized, the frontrunner Romney closed out his stump speech by urging the supporters to vote in tomorrow's primary, telling them "you're going to make a big statement tomorrow."

Could Mitt Romney become the first non-incumbent Republican presidential candidate to win in both Iowa and New Hampshire? After all, what happens in the Hawkeye State doesn't always follow in the Granite State...

Produced by NBC's John Bailey.

WOLFEBORO,  N.H. -- Saturday evening is a big night for Newt Gingrich. Not only is it just three days before the New Hampshire primary, it also marks the first presidential debate since the barrage of negative attacks against the former House speaker in Iowa kicked into high gear.

“It’s fight night. We’re excited,” Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond told a small group of reporters following a Gingrich event here.

Standing in front of a large military tank with a fighter jet hanging from above, Gingrich wasted no time before taking a jab at GOP rival Mitt Romney.

“I look at this tank lovingly because I remember Michael Dukakis,” he said as he started his speech inside The Wright Museum on WWII history. (Dukakis was the 1988 Democratic presidential nominee, who was featured in a picture riding in a tank.) “And it’s just a reminder that governors of Massachusetts don’t always make good presidential candidates.”

Gingrich gave one of his most energetic speeches on the trail Saturday afternoon before a crowd of at least 400 people. And as a historian, the museum was an ideal setting for him. This impassioned townhall performance from the former Speaker comes has he is struggling in recent polls in New Hampshire and nationally. He has to finish strong here and win South Carolina to have a chance at becoming the Republican nominee.

“We have 2 weeks to clarify in South Carolina that he [Romney] is a Massachusetts Moderate and that he has a whole series of experiences and values that are the opposite of the South Carolina Republican Party,” Gingrich told reporters following his event in the same resort town as Romney’s summer home. “If we succeed in doing that he won’t win in South Carolina.  If we don’t succeed, he might win.” 

Debates have always been a strong suit for Gingrich but the last presidential debate was more than three weeks ago on Dec. 15 in Sioux City, Iowa. Since then, he has moved far from front-runner status, finishing just fourth in the Iowa caucuses earlier this week. Potential good news for the Gingrich campaign? Two debates in 12 hours this weekend.

Gingrich told reporters after one of his largest events since his poll numbers began to drop that he will prepare for this debate as he has all along.

“Drink a diet coke, call Maggie and Robert [his grandchildren] and get their sophisticated coaching advice,” he said, adding he will try to remember the tips of “slower, smile, shorter, clearer.”

Gingrich said not to doubt his strategy of not talking to paid consultants before debates as he has “two debate coaches with a winning streak.”

Even though it’s “fight night” for the campaign, Gingrich may not directly attack Romney – at least not by the way he defines going negative on an opponent.

“I'm not going to go after Mitt Romney. I may define the reality of a Reagan conservative and a Massachusetts moderate,” he said. “I don’t think telling the truth in a happy and pleasant way comes across as negative, it may come across as the truth … may have to ask Gov. Romney how he feels describing accurately his record.”

PORTSMOUTH, NH -- When former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson decided to leave the GOP to pursue the Libertarian Party's presidential nomination two days ago, his former New Hampshire staffers chose not to go with him.

This morning, Johnson's New Hampshire staff declared their support for Ron Paul -- with just four days to go until the Hawkeye State votes and 11 days to the New Hampshire primary.

"Like many political observers, we see clear and compelling differences between Congressman Ron Paul and the other candidates who will garner significant support in New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary," the staffers said in a statement.

They explained their move to Paul was born out of necessity.

"We think the people who care about the things we care about should get behind Ron Paul....we wish Gov. Johnson well," Matt Simon, Johnson's former New Hampshire communications director, told NBC News on Friday.

The decision to back the Texas congressman came two months after Johnson suspended his New Hampshire-centric campaign in October. His staff left shortly thereafter in search of a new candidate.

Simon added that they would be willing to continue support Johnson in the general election -- assuming Paul does not win the GOP nod and Johnson wins the Libertarian nomination.

But for now, supporting libertarian-inspired ideals as early as possible is the top priority for the former Johnson staff.

"I've never been someone who votes for the lesser of two evils," said Simon, referring to New Hampshire front runners Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

In addition to Simon, Johnson supporters who are now backing Paul include Brinck Slattery, the former New Hampshire state coordinator; Nick Murray, former Seacoast field coordinator and college coordinator; Andy Hauger, former Merrimack Valley field coordinator; and Eric Jackman, former Southwestern New Hampshire field coordinator to Paul.

The five will simply support Paul -- and, as of now, they will not formally join his organization or be paid. The Paul campaign could not be immediately reached for comment.

Joe Hunter, Johnson's communications director, told NBC: "With the New Hampshire primary coming and with Gary having announced he is running as a libertarian, it makes perfect sense for them to be supporting Ron Paul in the primary."

BEDFORD, N.H. -- Speaking before a crowd of more than 150 supporters Tuesday night, GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney laid out a stark choice of visions for America and said the selection of the next president is a matter of choosing America's destiny.

"This America of long unemployment lines and small dreams is not the America you and I love. It is not a live free or die America. These troubled years are President Obama’s legacy, but they are not our future," Romney said. "This is an election not to replace a president but to save a vision of America, It’s a choice between two destinies."

The remarks were the clearest articulation yet of Romney's "closing argument," which the former Massachusetts governor has been test-driving for weeks. It proposes that America must choose between a society based on entitlements under President Barack Obama, or a society based on merit, risk and growth, under Romney’s leadership.

"In a merit-based society, people achieve their dreams through hard work, education, risk-taking, and even a little luck.  An opportunity society produces pioneers and inventors; it inspires its citizens to build and create. As these people exert effort and take risks, they employ and lift others and create prosperity. Their success does not make others poorer, it makes others better off," Romney said. "President Obama sees America differently.  He believes in an entitlement society."

Romney called an entitlement society one in which everyone is more equal, but everyone is worse off.

"President Obama’s entitlement society would demand a massive growth of government. To preserve opportunity, we must shrink government, not grow it," Romney said.

The speech, which was lit and staged with television cameras in mind, did not mention any of Romney's GOP rivals, focusing on Romney’s vision and on Obama.

"I have a vision of a very different America, an America united not by our limits but by our ambitions, our hopes and our shared dreams. I am tired of a president who wakes up every day, looks out across America and is proud to announce, ‘It could be worse.’ It could be worse?" Romney asked rhetorically.  "Is that what it means to be an American? It could be worse? No. If I am president I will wake up every day and remind Americans that not only must we do better but also that we can do better!  I believe in America!"

Romney later accused Obama of inverting President John F. Kennedy's famous call to service.

"President Barack Obama has reversed John Kennedy's call for sacrifice. He would have Americans ask, ‘What can the country do for you?’" Romney said.

Within an hour of the speech's conclusion, Obama campaign press secretary Ben LaBolt issued a statement defending the president's record and argued that Romney's stated positions were a smokescreen for an agenda designed to help only Wall Street and the most well-to-do.

“Only a candidate like Mitt Romney could give a speech like this with a straight face. Governor Romney claims to want to level the playing field to create opportunity, but all his policies do is stack the deck against the middle class.  He has repackaged the same policies that caused the economic crisis and led to the insecurity middle class families have been facing," LaBolt said. "The president is fighting to build an economy where hard work and responsibility are rewarded, everyone plays by the same rules whether on Wall Street or Main Street, and economic security for the middle class is restored.”

Romney, who recent polls show is now locked in a dead heat with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich nationally, is on a four-day, 10-stop bus tour across New Hampshire, his most vital early primary state, to sell his message and to attempt to solidify his formidable lead here. Next week, he'll be in Iowa for a three-day swing.

After the official speech ended and the applause died down, Romney re-took the microphone Tuesday night  to urge his supporters to begin the hard work of actually turning out the votes in New Hampshire.

"We don't have a long time to go," Romney told the crowd, urging them to make calls and talk to their friends.

"We want to win in New Hampshire," he said.   

PETERBOROUGH, NH -- After dodging the question twice in two days, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman appeared to shut the door on running as a third-party candidate for president, if he doesn't become the Republican presidential nominee.

"I'm not running as an independent. I'm not running as an independent," Huntsman told reporters after a town hall meeting this morning. "I don't know how many times I have to say that."

This is the first time Huntsman appeared to completely rule out a run outside the Republican Party, and it's his most definitive answer to date. Previously, the former ambassador to China seemed to leave the option open, saying he was running in the GOP and planned to win the Republican nomination.
 
"I've been a lifelong Republican. I expect to be the nominee, and that's how we are going to resolve it," Huntsman said, ducking the question in Londonderry on Friday evening.

Huntsman also tried to play down news that his former campaign manager Susie Wiles endorsed Mitt Romney today.

"That's all political gamesmanship," Huntsman said when asked about Wiles' jump.

Huntsman also lost a key New Hampshire supporter Robert Brothers last night, to which Huntsman said, "Oh, we are picking up people all the time. That's how politics goes sometimes."