Mitt Romney began the 2012 race by narrowly losing the Iowa Caucuses to Rick Santorum by just 8 votes. Following Iowa, Romney went on to handily win the New Hampshire primary on his way to the GOP nomination. The Granite State has become a serious battleground in 2012, despite the lower number of electoral votes, and Romney has seen fit enough to spend Monday campaigning there.
Report from the Washington Post:
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney will end his campaign where it began — New Hampshire.
The candidate’s final rally will be in Manchester on Monday night, with musician Kid Rock as a special guest.
Romney began his campaign in Stratham, N.H., in June 2011. In that speech, he touted his economic experience, charging that President Obama “has failed America” — themes he’s stuck to over the past 17 months.
But Romney’s ties to New Hampshire go beyond this election. Every year his family gathers at their lakefront compound in Wolfeboro for a summer vacation (and a highly competitive regimen of sports and games known as the “Romney Olympics”). Wolfeboro is where Romney prepared for his Republican National Convention speech.
New Hampshire is also where Romney declared victory in the Republican primary and began to focus the campaign on challenging Obama.
Polls show President Obama leading in New Hampshire on average by about 1 point. A victory in New Hampshire for Romney would be important as the state went Democratic in 2004 and 2008 on the Presidential line.