海角大神

Rick Santorum may have gotten a 鈥渞ocket boost鈥� out of Iowa, as one political commentator puts it, but next Tuesday鈥檚 New Hampshire primary could bring him back to earth.

His near-tie with Mitt Romney in Iowa can certainly help the former Pennsylvania senator outperform his polling in the Granite State 鈥� just 5 percent support in a Suffolk University poll conducted among likely GOP voters on Jan. 1 and 2.

But with little money and a small organization on the ground here, a week is not much time to capitalize on the surge of attention he鈥檒l receive. And the demographics here aren鈥檛 as natural a fit for Mr. Santorum鈥檚 socially conservative message as they were in Iowa.

The support Santorum has galvanized here is largely based on his antiabortion stance, but there are fewer voters here for whom that鈥檚 a top priority, political science experts say.

鈥淭he independents here are going to make a big difference, and I don鈥檛 believe Santorum plays as well [with them] as he does with the corn-fed evangelical 海角大神s in Iowa,鈥� says Patrick Griffin, an unaligned Republican strategist and senior fellow at St. Anselm College鈥檚 New Hampshire Institute of Politics.

Santorum, who was expected to arrive in New Hampshire for campaign events Wednesday, does have some factors working to his advantage.聽

His national campaign manager, Mike Biundo, is from New Hampshire and has been involved with campaigns here before. Santorum also has at least 23 state legislators endorsing him.

And the retail politicking that paid off for him in Iowa is often rewarded by voters here as well. Santorum can be credited for 鈥渨orking very hard here in the first six months of the year ... but since then he鈥檚 hardly been here at all,鈥� says Fergus Cullen, former chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party.

鈥淭here was a cost to him getting all those votes鈥� in Iowa, adds Linda Fowler, a political scientist at Dartmouth College. 鈥淗e was there all the time.鈥�

Back when Jimmy Carter was able to use Iowa as a springboard, he had about a month before the New Hampshire vote, Professor Fowler says. 鈥淪antorum鈥檚 got six days.鈥�

That鈥檚 barely enough time to process checks from supporters to pay for more air time in the intense media wars about to be unleashed. And some of that media barrage will certainly be directed against Santorum by supporters of Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul, and Mitt Romney as Santorum moves into the 鈥渨hite hot intensity at the center of the political universe,鈥� Mr. Griffin says.

Santorum campaigners say they鈥檒l make a strong push in the state, including running some television ads.

He鈥檚 also helped by the fact that Michele Bachmann has ended her campaign and Rick Perry is leap-frogging to South Carolina.

While Romney鈥檚 lead in New Hampshire might be too big to overcome 鈥� he was at 43 percent in the Suffolk poll, with his nearest competitor, Ron Paul, at 16 percent 鈥� besting Paul or Newt Gingrich (9 percent) may be enough to keep the steam in Santorum鈥檚 campaign.

鈥淲hat he wants out of New Hampshire is to beat the expectations game,鈥� says Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

That could give him time to raise money and capitalize on the strong 海角大神 conservative support he could galvanize in the Jan. 21 South Carolina primary, Professor Sabato says.

But it鈥檚 still be an uphill battle for Santorum, as it was for other candidates who didn鈥檛 have enough preparation in terms of money or volunteer troops. 鈥淵ou can ride the wave, but eventually the wave crashes into the beach and you have to have ability to swim out again to catch another wave,鈥� Sabato says.