TIME Magazine Take on Republican Primary Race

The Republican picture was less clear-cut—all question marks, close calls, and sagging spirits. John McCain, the Arizona senator whose campaign spent the summer in ICU, was coming on strong in a bid to repeat his 2000 New Hampshire victory. But then former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney dominated the final pre-election debate, a feat he followed up with a massive turnout operation that included 100,000 phone calls to prospective voters. Romney's well-funded campaign took a big hit in Iowa on Thursday, when former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee whipped him badly, and a second loss in New Hampshire—where Romney owns a summer home— might finish him off.

Romney projected confidence Tuesday afternoon. All those phone calls, he said, persuaded him that voters making last-minute decisions were breaking strongly in his direction. McCain was equally upbeat, having slept in the same room he occupied prior to his 2000 landslide. "There is no superstition I won't indulge," he said.

McCain or Romney: Leading Republicans in Washington and in statehouses around the country watched urgently to spot the winner, who is expected to become the prime alternative to Huckabee in South Carolina's primary on Jan. 19.

No one was looking for Huckabee, a Southern Baptist preacher, to do well in Yankee New Hampshire. He spent the days leading up to the primary cooking up photo ops and retooling his Iowa-focused message for a more national audience. Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson continued to underperform their supporters' early hopes, while the libertarian contrarian Ron Paul continued to exert his narrow but intense appeal.

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Originally published January 8, 2008 5:13 pm EST