Giuliani Closing Gap with Romney in New Hampshire

Rudy Giuliani has drawn to a statistical dead heat with Mitt Romney in New Hampshire. This is awful news for the Romney camp, who trail in national polls by a significant margin. It appeared obvious to most observers that Romney was playing for a "springboard effect" in Iowa and New Hampshire.

As Howard Dean proved in 2004, Iowa alone isn't enough. Both early return states are needed to capture momentum. On the other hand, if Giuliani can sandwich Fred Thompson's apparent South Carolina stronghold between New Hampshire and Florida wins, he'll be in the driver's seat on Mega Tuesday.

Add to that news that Pete Wilson has endorsed Giuliani in California, and a recipe for powerful momentum is brewing for the Mayor. No doubt Romney will double down and fight for the state in his own back yard. He has time to rebuild there, but the clock is ticking. I suspect that Fred Thompson, seeing no way to win there, would far prefer a Romney win over Giuliani to keep an equilibrium before the South can weigh in.

This should be an interesting developing story.