Romney ahead with his second US vote victory

Mitt Romney, buoyed by a commanding win the New Hampshire primary, took his campaign south yesterday as the clear Republican frontrunner to take on President Barack Obama.

The former Massachusetts governor and millionaire venture capitalist immediately looked to South Carolina’s January 21 primary, hoping a victory there and in Florida on January 31 could effectively anoint him the nominee.

“I have a good start. I have an uphill climb in South Carolina ahead of me, but it could not have worked better last night,” Mr Romney told the NBC television yesterday, following his victory in the New Hampshire primary, a week after a narrow win in Iowa caucuses.

Public opinion polls showed Mr Romney leading his more conservative rivals in both of the next battlegrounds – large states where his well-oiled, well-funded campaign machine could roll up the opposition.

With more than 95 per cent of votes counted, Mr Romney was set to win New Hampshire with about 39 per cent, the first time since 1976 that a Republican non-incumbent wins this contest and the Iowa caucuses that precede it.

After surviving a furious 11th-hour onslaught from his Republican rivals, who tarred him as a callous corporate raider who put people out of work, Mr Romney defiantly trumpeted his business experience as his number-one asset.

A Quinnipiac College poll in Florida, a key swing state in the November election, showed Mr Romney a likely winner over Mr Obama by 46 to 43 per cent.

Mr Romney has insisted that his private sector triumphs make him the best person to take on Mr Obama, whose re-election bid is weighed down by the sagging US economy and high unemployment.

He has accused Mr Obama of wanting to “put free enterprise on trial,” and yesterday accused some of his Republican opponents of having become “witnesses for (the) prosecution.”

“This country already has a leader who divides us with the bitter politics of envy. We must offer an alternative vision,” Mr Romney said in a strident speech to supporters after his victory was announced on Tuesday night.