WOW!!! I didn’t see this coming at all. McCain was supposedly slipping since this weekend’s debates. That said, CNN has called the Republican NH Primary for John McCain.

With 9 percent of Republican precincts reporting, McCain had 37 percent of the vote. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was second with 28 percent, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the winner of last week’s Iowa GOP caucuses followed with 12 percent.

Captain Ed is right:

7:11 - CNN calls the election for John McCain on the Republican side. Their exit polling apparently must have shown some significant gap between him and Romney. This is a big hit on Romney. More on this later as we see more of the results.

If Romney loses Iowa and New Hampshire by 9 points each, it’s difficult seeing a logic of going beyond Michigan.

Voters who supported McCain and those who supported projected runner-up Romney differed significantly on what issues they feel are most important, exit polling shows.

Forty-six percent of those who supported McCain ranked the war in Iraq the most important. Meanwhile, voters who supported Romney overwhelmingly felt immigration was the most important issue.

McCain has been a staunch supporter of the war in Iraq, but co-sponsored comprehensive immigration reform legislation that drew the ire of many conservatives in his party. The legislation failed to pass Congress. Romney has been taking a tough stance on immigration.

Those aren’t good numbers for McCain. Once he reaches South Carolina, those immigration numbers will haunt him. Another thing that’ll hurt McCain is that Michigan is the last state that lets independents vote in either primary.

I’ll give credit where it’s due, though. McCain was finished if he didn’t win New Hampshire so he did what he had to do. Congratulations to Sen. McCain for a hard-fought win.

8:50 CT- Hillary’s lead is still holding. This is amazing. I’ll bet most of the major newspaper reporters has already written her obituary.

Sidenote: I talked with Eric from Liberal in the Land of Conservatives a few minutes ago. I started the conversation by saying “So I guess we can throw all polling out the window now”? Eric’s reply was less sarcastic than my question but well worth talking about. He said that polls are pretty much useless because of all the cell phones that don’t get called. I agree. In fact, I’ve written about that factor in the past.

9:05: With 60 percent of the vote counted, Hillary has increased her lead to over 4,000 votes. To say that nobody saw this coming is understatement.

9:30: Hillary’s lead continues to grow. It’s now over 5,000 over Obama.

10:00: Hillary is declared the winner. This sends shockwaves through the Obama camp. Comeback Kid indeed.

Technorati: John McCain, New Hampshire, Mitt Romney, Debates, Election 2008

Cross-posted at California Conservative