that's very impressive, 71,500. he is 28 thousand votes ahead of ron paul who has come in second. jon huntsman, former utah governor coming this third, 17%. 31,886. there's a battle under way for fourth and fifth. newt gingrich right now with 81% of the precinct et reporting slightly's head of rick santorum. both at 10%. rick perry barely did anything in new hampshire. he is already in south carolina getting ready for that. let's go to mitt romney headquarters right now. candy crowley is watching what's going on. he delivered a pretty powerful speech tonight, victory speech, in new hampshire and it follows his victory. albeit by a very, very tight margin but so far candy, two for two. >> he is. and you know, if the romney people could have scripted this evening, it could not have gone any better for them. he had a good and solid first place, and running a distant second, ron paul, really the candidate they feared the least, the man they don't think will ever be acceptable to the main stream of the republican party. those that they original thought were a threat, way back when in iowa, newt gingrich, rick perry, gone down in the 10%, perry even far less than that at about 1%. this was a bounce they wanted going into south carolina where they really believe looking at the poll said as we all are, romney is ahead. they believe he has a very good chance of coming out on top in south carolina. which is why, wolf, when you listen to mitt romney, he's not really talking about his republican opponents, he's talking fall talk. heeldz he's talking about president obama. >> we know that the future of the country is better than 8% or 9% unemployment. better than $15 trillion in debt. it's better than the broken promises of the last three years. the president has run out of ideas, now he's running out of excuses. [ cheers and applause ] and tonight -- >> mitt, mitt, mitt! >> -- and tonight, tonight, we're asking the good people of south carolina to join the citizens of new hampshire and make 2012 the year he runs out of time. >> and you're right, wolf. two wins in a row, first iowa, and now of course, new hampshire, but two very different evenings. iowa was a very, very flat, sort of celebration. here, there was energy in the room. you could really feel that in terms of the one thing a lot of people thought mitt romney was lacking, which was the energy, he was able to get it here in new hampshire, and he it use it in south carolina. >> all eyes will be on south carolina, january 21, the primary there. thanks very much. let's go to john king, taking a closer look at how mitt romney did it, john paul, impressive in second.n huntsman, third. this is an important number. 38% and the number could go up. >> could go up a bit. mitt romney is doing well. let's echo candy's point. this was an impressive win for mitt romney. he was polling in the last few days. he's going to get at least 38%. based on what we see right now. he can claim a victory. why is this important? 70% of the people in new hampshire live here. they call it the gold triangle. ports smith on the sea coast, down to manchester, nashua. 70% of the population here. close to the boston media market. romney is winning them all. if you check in on some of the places, he's winning most of these more than state-wide. this is his margin of victory, close to massachusetts. as you note, also an impressive note, as he throws in the map for ron paul. orange. might look pink to you at home. all the other candidates say he's not a main stream republican. he continues to prove he's a factor in the race. at the moment, the buffer between mitt romney and everyone else. huntsman began this thinking he would stumble in iowa, falter in new hampshire, but 17% wasn't what they were looking for. we leave new hampshire, romney is 2-0. we go on now to south carolina. watch how this fills in on the 21st. along the coast, your more establishment republicans down here and a critical area in this state, right up in here. now, mitt romney goes in with momentum. huntsman said he's fighting on. there we go, go back to the map. not sure why that happened, but huntsman said he's going to fight on. let me fix it that way. we're having fun with the ball. here we go. gingrich said he'll fight on, huntman, perry, santorum. but do you get a repeat of what happened in 2008? this is mike huckabee, john mccain country down here. what mitt romney is counting on is win the establishment of republican votes. if there is to be a conservative challenge to mitt romney, they're going to have to win big down here, but when you have this crowded field, does one candidate emerge or does the momentum romney had give him enough to win again? >> the fact that newt gingrich is from neighboring georgia and is going to spend millions of dollars, presumably, in south carolina, he needs to get on track, and this could be the place. if he request. >> it could be the place. >> with this split, newt gingrich when he was the candidate surgingsurging, was doing well in south carolina. what is the question? you'll have a different electric. south carolina, the darker the color, the higher percentage of people classified as evangelicals. speaker gingrich started an ad questioning romney's abortion rights. another key, a constituency we have talked about a lot, will they be counted, the powerful force of two years ago, the tea party. the darker the area, the number of people who say i identify with the tea party. will they endorse one candidate to go against mitt romney. it may be as important as ever as we move to state three. there's a momentum factor. if romney can win south carolina, he will go into florida with considerable momentum. >> it will be a three for three sweech, which is going to be very, very impressive. anderson, let's throw it to you. >> romney's momentum tonight, let's see if it's changed minds in south carolina. tom foreminute, when i was with you before, a number of people said their minds had been changed tonight or they were moving in a direction tonight based on tonight. we wanted to know who they're moving toward, what candidate? >> good point, anderson. let me show you that again with this group, all of you have been very patient this evening here at the college of charleston. let me ask you all, you came in here tonight, all saying you were undecided. how many of you moved closer to making up your minds tonight? look at that, anderson. tremendous amount of people here considerably closer, and i want to play a little bit of sound and watch how the group reacted with their dial testing devices being monitored by southern methodist university. they listened to what folks had to say. they turned the dial indicating how they felt about things. watch how the group reacted to newt gingrich. >> let me put in context where we are. we have an opportunity, i think, to unify the country around a message of jobs, economic growth, and very dramatic programs. the opportunity is to reach out to everybody of every background who would rather have paychecks than food stamps, to convince them what ronald reagan did in the 1980s in creating millions of new jobs, what we did when i was speaker in the '90s, in creating millions of new jobs, can be done again. >> all right, all of you who now are leaning heavily toward newt gingrich, put your hands up. one, two, three, four, five of you in the group here. let me ask you something, what did you -- that made ufeel better about him? >> i felt like he had a true conservative values. he has innovative ideas and concrete ways to solve some of the problems that we have. that none of the other candidates mentioned. and i feel like he has the best interest of this country in mind, and he's putting that far ahead of his own personal gain. >> let me ask some of the other candidates, what about rick santorum, how many of you felt you would lean his way after what you heard and saw. one. okay, how about jon huntsman? one. two maybe. you see a little hesitant, three maybe. this is like an auction. three going up there. very slow process up here. ron paul, we talked about here. show me the ron paul support. this is similar to what we saw tonight. one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, and you said you're still kind of flirting with some other possibilities, too. this isn't all made up. how about jon huntsman? he's a guy betting a lot on this. who is leaning his way? maybe you back there. maybe one, maybe two. here's the thing, anderson, i want you to think about this, jon huntsman thing, we'll come back to that because i want you to see the reaction, but look at the room here when i say this, how many of you now feel you're going to go with mitt romney? there, i can't -- it's not overwhelming, but it looks like -- you dropped your hands. put them up so i can see all of you. there's a pretty good number. any of you in here rick perry? not a one. so look, there's nothing scientific about this part of it, but you can see even in this room how people are getting closer to making up their mind. in conversation,many of you still willing to chachs. are you locked down? >> not locked down, but it's between the two, newt or ron paul. they're the most conservative and liberty minded people or candidates. >> a little up in the air, especially when it comes to folks like huntsman and some of the folks who aren't ncessarily out in front. >> what did the dial testing show when huntsman was speaking? >> take a look at one of the things he did which seemed here, almost, like a misstep, in which he said something that was clearly an applause line, got tepid applause where he was, but look at the group when he said that. >> if we don't get our act together at home, we will see the end of the american century by 2050, and we're not going to let that happen, are we? >> yeah, so you saw that, anderson. i want to ask somebody over here about that. one of the things i saw in the group time and time again, if you watch the numbers closely, by and arg, when the campaigns went negative, when they talked too much about what was wrong with america, what they didn't like, even when they talked too much about what they didn't like about the obama administration, you as a group didn't like it much. why? >> we just don't like negative advertising in the south especially. well, and a lot of it is propaganda. i mean, you can talk an ad and cut clips out of a certain section and say anything you want to. >> all right, anderson, you get a sense of it tonight. a fascinating evening with all of these folks who have been very, very patient, but have shared a lot of interesting views. and as we said earlier, we're are wrap it up this way. they came in saying they haven't made up their minds. every campaign out there is looking for these people, and tonight, how many of you are pretty much closer to making up your mind? big change, and big change stakes here in south carolina. anderson? >> please let them know how much we appreciate their patience and participatation. it's been faceinating watching their dial testing. thanks for that. ron paul said he's in the best position to top mitt romney. stand by for an exclusive cnn interview with the number two interviewcandidate, ron paul. and we're checking reaction to mitt romney's win. the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. 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[ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. in what passes for common sense. used to be we socked money away and expected it to grow. then the world changed... and the common sense of retirement planning became anything but common. fortunately, td ameritrade's investment consultants can help you build a plan that fits your life. take control by opening a new account or rolling over an old 401(k) today, and we'll throw in up to $600. how's that for common sense? mitt romney has gone up to 39%. take a look at this. 85% of the precincts now reporting. mitt romney has 39% of the vote. 81,843. some 34,000 votes ahead of ron paul, who has come in second with 23%. john huntsimate with 17%, coming in at third. newt gingrich and rick santorum, they're basically tied for fourth place. 10% for newt gingrich, 19,986. santorum, only one% less. for the texas governor, rick perry, 1%. you still have ron paul supporters with you. we heard from what the texas congressman had to say. you had a chance to speak with him yourself. >> as you can see and hear behind me, they're not letting up. they'll be here for some time. very excited about ron paul's second place win. i did have a chance to speak to the congressman after we knew for sure he was going to come in second place. and asked him what that means for the rest of the field. are you now the buffer between mitt romney and the rest of the candidates? i don't know what you want to call it, we're next in line to him. i would say we're the only ones really in the race with him. and we'll have to remain to be seen what turns up. >> now, here, when he spoke, he has said explicitly he believes he's nipping at the heels of mitt romney. he also gave a rousing speech, not the kind of speech we generally hear from him, ironically. he sounds kind of profess oriole. here, he sounded like a candidate talking about the fath he people call him dangerous, now he's dangerous to the status quo. he's on his way, probably to sleep right now, but tomorrow, he'll go to south carolina, make a noon rally to make it clear to his supporters and everybody else he's just beginning, not letting up, and he plans to contend very heavily in south carolina. he's hoping to get money and get sort of organic support. and you can see people are still here, and i should tell you that the bar is still open. maybe you can tell. >> the folks are happy, ron paul supporters. a lot of ardent supports. thanks very much. i spoke with ron paul myself earlier in the day. he seems to duj he wasn't going to invest heavily in florida. he was going to look into some of the caucus states in february. this impressive second place finish in new hampshire might force him to reconsider, especially if he could generate a lot of money. >> interesting to hear him talking to dana, not answering his question about what he would tell his supporters to do, who he would support if he's not the nominee, which is most likely. >> he's been very, very cagey about that. and really refused, dangled out the possibility if i'm not listened to, you don't listen to me, i may well break from you, but i do think it's certainly clear that ron paul and the group that he represents has become a force within the republican party. almost a quasi party. >> and the republican party would like to ignore that. >> and there's no second choice. it's ron paul or nobody else, or maybe barack obama, as a person in the focus group said. >> and i think it's one of the issues republicans are going to have to face. we talked about having a frared field before with all of the fields. but it's increasingly clear that there may be a fractured party, the tea party, now the ron paul movement, whether they can bring all of the people together, that's what i think for republicans, there is some premium on trying to end this sooner rather than later so romney has a chance to unite the party. there was something john said tonight, and he said our mission with mitt romney is not to excite but to unite. and i did think that, yeah, i can see why he wants to do that. >> it's interesting to me, though, because ron paul could decide he wants to take this to the convention. >> absolutely. >> ron paul can take his delegates to the convection, can be a powerful force, can get a powerful speech, and that's something that has to be considered right now. and it would be very important because he could say, you know what? i want a primetime speech. >> and even though he's older, so many of his supporters are young, which suggests they have a future in the party. you have to recognize that. >> how does it impact the party down the road? a lot to watch for. >> a son who is popular son from connecticut rkt rand paul, who is looking down the road as well. ron paul came in second. mitt romney came in first. jon huntsman came in third. let's go to jim. he's over at huntsman headquarters over there. he was happy about a third place finish. and he's saying he's off to south carolina, jim. >> that's right. that's right, wolf. i have never seen so many so happy to finish inside third place. we're inside huntsman primary headquarters. that's the podium where we heard governor huntsman saying we're on the hunt, we have a ticket to ride to south carolina. and desite the third place finish, sources still see a path to the nomination. they might be kidding themselves, wolf, but they're very optimistic after tonight. a wounded romney may not have been stoppable here in new hampshire, but perhaps in south carolina, when they take the fight to him down there, perhaps they can slow him down down in south carolina. that's the thinking inside the huntsman campaign. i had a chance to talk to the governor exclusively earlier tonight about where his campaign goes from here. that's what he said for the first time, he's going to south carolina. going to continue the campaign, and he's going to continue to take the fight to mitt romney. >> do you hope you can make the case in south carolina, the same case you made up here, hold on, it's not over. >> the people of south carolina will be alonging at exactly what the people of new hampshire have been looking for, electability. they're going to stand for the issues that can carry us to victory. the trust deficit and the economic deficit, not about firing people and pink slips in a way that they'll get tripped up by the dnc and the chicago machine with a billion dollars behind it. >> and the huntman campaign said they have an event set up for columbia, south carolina. 3:00 tomorrow afternoon at the university of south carolina. they're going right after the college students that they were trying to attract here in new hampshire. and they say they have the resources to compete. i spoke to several sources here, including the campaign manager, and he said any talk of this campaign dropping out of the race, any talk of the governor dropping out of the race rhymes with bull spit, and i should mention that the bar is also open here tonight, they're still partying in huntsman headquarters. >> i can see they're having a good time there. jim acosta at huntsman headquarters. headed to south carolina. i think all of us will be headed to south carolina soon. an exciting race. can't wait. >> yeah, i mean, can jon huntsman compete in south carolina? he's very low in the early polling there. >> i don't see that he has much of a constituency there. you saw in the focus group, there didn't seem to be a person for huntsman. he can use some money there, but i just see that the fight is going to be among the other -- the conservatives in the party, the santorums and perryperrys to fight there. >> it's interesting that his dad was there. and he could have a pack that could hunt him, but huntsman play has to be like a carom shot. he has to allow newt to spend all his money. >> what kind? >> carom. >> a pool shark. all right. >> if newt spends all of his money and brings romney down, then it's possible that huntsman and the chaos in the dust could arise as the alternative. >> he wasn't able to catch fire in new hampshire where he devoted a significant aplount of time. >> people are so sick of negative -- i think what happens is there's too much noise and romney benefits from it. >> the best line had to be john sununu saying jon huntsman has been here for six months and he got this number of votes. at this rate, he could catch us in 25 years. >> all of t