Can Romney's Organization Win NH?

Matt Lewis | January 08, 2008 12:10 AM

I attended events for Rudy, Romney, McCain, and Huckabee today. The Romney event was held at his headquarters, which gave me some interesting insight. There were literally about a thousand pizza boxes piled up. Mitt might be a millionaire, but his headquarters is a bit spartan, to say the least.

Nevertheless, volunteers from all over the country were there, dutifully calling Granite Staters and urging them to vote tomorrow. It was clear that his supporters truly love and admire him.

I also got to overhear some campaign volunteers talk about their day going door-to-door for Romney. Apparently, they both accidentally ventured into Massachusetts. Not good.

But they also both agreed that they had spent the entire day campaigning without so much as seeing a single McCain flier or pamphlet. Romney has hundreds of volunteers making calls and going door-to-door, McCain probably has a skeleton operation.

Organization wasn't enough to win Iowa for Romney, but then again, he was competing against an organized Evangelical movement. Will organization be the difference-maker in New Hampshire?

Update: I've spoken to some folks, and it was inaccurate to describe McCain's operation up here as a "skeleton" operation. In fact, there are hundreds of volunteers working for him. Still, there is no doubt that Romeny's strength is his organization, while McCain's strength is his maverick image -- as well as the many Independent voters who may cast their ballots for him today. The Independents are his version of Huckabee's Evangelicals...