New Hampshire

The politics-by-the-numbers game we play has been quirkily friendly to Mitt Romney. He was able to waltz into New Hampshire a week before its Republican presidential primary boasting of being a winner in the Iowa caucuses. He could do so despite the fact that he beat former Sen. Rick Santorum, a mere asterisk in the standings a week earlier, by the infinitesimal margin of eight votes. In doing so, and after spending millions in an 11th-hour effort to make up for his near-absenteeism in Iowa, he actually won six fewer votes than he had garnered in his second-place finish there four years ago. Until that late gambling surge, the former Massachusetts governor had pretty much kissed off Iowa as unwelcome terrain.

In Wednesday's news, those poor candidates can stop eating all of that bad fried Iowa food.  It's on to New Hampshire, where, in Manchester, there's a cafe/wine bar named Republic that publishes a manifesto on its website. It's hard to tell Repubic is kidding, or if it ever is. ("Republic accepts only legal currency, but bartering is encouraged. What have you got?"). It looks like the last place in the Granite State you'd expect to see any campaigning this year. Time's Josh Ezersky on the case for eating horse meat . You might as well, he says, feed the hungry with it. An Eastern Shore Crab Cake recipe from Serious Eats.

Although the first voting for presidential delegates is still four days off in Iowa, the political crystal-ball gazers are already speculating which Republican candidates will survive and which will fall off the cliff into oblivion. It's being said that if Mitt Romney wins in a state in which he only began to campaign in earnest in recent days, and then goes on a week later to repeat the feat in the New Hampshire primary, the ballgame will be over. If, on the other hand, Mr. Romney falls short in Iowa, it will be said that victory in New Hampshire will be vital to his hopes, and the other Republican candidates may live to fight another day. In 1980, Ronald Reagan was expected to sweep through Iowa, but he showed up only on the weekend before the state's precinct caucuses and got bloodied by the hard-working team of George H.W. Bush.

(Dec. 20) GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney released 37 new Maryland endorsements on Tuesday, including Anne Arundel County state Sen. Bryan W. Simonaire and Baltimore County Del. William J. Frank. Recent polls show Romney running even or slightly behind former House Speaker Newt Gingrich among likely Republican voters nationally. But in terms of organization and endorsements, Romney appears to be leading in traditionally blue Maryland. Romney unveiled his first round of endorsements in the state in September . Whether the state's April 3 primary will matter for helping to choose the party's nominee remains to be seen.

Out of curiosity, does your newspaper purposely not report on Ron Paul? Is it because he is the most consistent Republican candidate that threatens the GOP establishment with truth? And scares liberal states like Maryland because of his true American conservatism? Well, maybe its good you didn't report on him or nearly mention his name; it's better then making a ridiculous statement like all of the corrupt media that he is unelectable. Which is obviously false based on his strong polling numbers in Iowa, New Hampshire, and nationally.

Barely three weeks from now, on Jan. 3, Republicans will start the quest for their 2012 presidential nominee in Iowa's precinct caucuses. Already the winnowing process among the candidates has begun, with the "suspension" of Herman Cain's ill-fated campaign. The process will continue for the survivors after Iowa, unless one of them unexpectedly scores an early knockout, as the well-heeled Mitt Romney had first hoped. But with the pendulum seemingly swinging Newt Gingrich's way lately, Mr. Romney will now be relying on his better-financed and better-organized campaign to check the former House speaker's unexpected momentum.

One more win, and Towson's worst-to-first journey in the Colonial Athletic Association will be complete. One more game like the one he had Saturday against New Hampshire, and Terrance West will be a lock for the Jerry Rice award given to the top freshman in the Football Championship Subdivision. The turnaround Tigers continued their remarkable season and their star but not starting tailback continued his breakout season. After falling behind on the game's first possession, No. 12 Towson scored three touchdowns in less than three minutes and seven in the first half — three by West — en route to a wild 56-42 victory over the No. 7 Huskies at Johnny Unitas Stadium before an announced crowd of 8,366 Saturday night.

No. 7 New Hampshire (7-2, 5-1) @ No. 12 Towson (7-2, 5-1 Colonial Athletic Association) Time: Saturday, 3:30 p.m. Site: Johnny Unitas Stadium Radio: 1570 AM Series: New Hampshire leads 7-0. What's at stake: In a critical contest between two of the three teams tied in first place in the CAA, Towson will look to beat New Hampshire for the first time in program history. The Tigers are coming off a 40-30 win against Maine, which gives them a school-record five CAA wins this season, and will honor their 13 seniors before the game.

The Towson football team has made the race for the Colonial Athletic Association championship even more competitive. With Saturday's 40-30 win at Maine, Towson not only propelled itself into a three-way tie for first place with the Black Bears and New Hampshire, but also provided itself a springboard into the final two games of its CAA schedule. However, the Tigers insisted their focus Saturday was on the task at hand — stopping the Black Bears, who entered the game ranked seventh in the Football Championship Subdivision.