As it happened: New Hampshire

Welcome to our live coverage of the Republican primary election in New Hampshire. Although Iowa held caucuses last week, the Granite State has a proud history of being the first state in the US to stage a full primary in a presidential election year. Long-time front-runner Mitt Romney won in Iowa - by a whisker - a week ago, and he hopes to continue on his way to the Republican nomination with a strong win in New Hampshire.

Republicans in New Hampshire have been voting since early this morning, as have many of the independent voters seen as crucial and allowed to vote in the state primary. We'll keep you up to date with all the developments throughout the rest of the day right until we have a winner. We have BBC correspondents on the ground in New Hampshire, and we'll also bring you the best of the tweets, blogs, analysis from the US media - and many of your comments too.

The candidates have arrived in New Hampshire after a long shadow campaign that has included an apparently endless round of TV debates. Romney, a former governor of Masachussetts, another New England state, has led the race ever since last summer - but has failed to win the hearts of many in the Republican base. He holds a considerable lead in New Hampshire, and to many analysts the key question today is not whether he wins - but whether he wins well.

is with the former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman - an outsider in the race for months who has bet his campaign on a good showing in New Hampshire today. Polls show Huntsman running close third behind Ron Paul - but gaining ground. "We've always thought that New Hampshire was the place to come, where you can upend conventional wisdom, and I think tonight conventional wisdom is going to be upended yet again," he tells reporters. Asked if tonight's vote is "do or die", Mr Huntsman says: "We have to do well, make no mistake about it."

Melina Brajovic, a 46-year-old native of Serbia, is wearing a homemade tricorn hat and holding a Ron Paul sign outside the polling station in Manchester. A US citizen since 1988, Ms Brajovic says when Nato was bombing her homeland in 1999, the Texas congressman won her affection by speaking out against the campaign. "He's a strict constitutionalist," she says. "He shined the light on something that makes America, America."

Are you unsure of where the candidates stand on the issues that matter to Republican primary voters? What are the six remaining contenders proposing to do to fix the US economy? Have a look at our handy guide to all the candidates and all the issues.

Melina Brajovic, whom the BBC's Daniel Nasaw spoke to earlier, with her Ron Paul banner.

New Hampshire's primary is the first binding contest of the Republican nominating process. Each state awards delegates who then attend the Republican convention to crown the winner. Normally New Hampshire would send 23 delegates, but this year's process has been dogged by some pre-primary Republican drama.

After Florida and Nevada moved their contests ahead of New Hampshire and Iowa - which traditionally go first - the early states responded by pushing forward their own votes. However, the national Republican party is penalising all states which hold a binding primary or caucus before 1 February - meaning New Hampshire's delegate allocation is being slashed virtually in half, from 23 to 12.

Just to make things more complicated, New Hampshire is not a "winner-takes-all" state in terms of delegates. Candidates who win at least 10% of the statewide vote are eligible to receive delegates. Once past that threshold, the state's 12 delegates for 2012 will be awarded proportionally. Are you still with us?

New Hampshire's Secretary of State (and head primary honcho) Bill Gardner has predicted the state will break its 2008 record for turnout in a Republican primary - however, turnout in the morning has been slow, ABC News reports.

With Michele Bachmann pulling out after a poor show in Iowa, five of the remaining six candidates are actively campaigning in New Hampshire. The one who's not? Texas Governor Rick Perry.

Rick Perry performed poorly in Iowa and is not an ideal fit for New Hampshire's pragmatic Republican/independent electorate. He has moved on already to South Carolina in an effort to make a strong showing in that state's 21 January primary. So while it's not a terrible surprise that he's polling poorly in New Hampshire, it is a surprise that - according to one recent poll at least - he is polling lower than Buddy Roemer, a Republican candidate who never appeared in any televised debates.

And who is Buddy Roemer? The former Louisiana governor and congressman has made a campaign point of attacking a Supreme Court decision which opened up elections to limitless flows of campaign cash funnelled through independent fund-raising committees backing candidates. But that hasn't made him particularly popular in the Republican primaries - where so-called "Super-PACs" have funded millions of dollars worth of televised attack ads.

Opponents are making the most of Romney's remark that "I like being able to fire people". This is only half his sentence and it has been taken wildly out of context - it is quite clear he was talking about changing insurance companies.

But given that he's also being attacked for making millions by taking over firms and sacking thousands, it was foolish language. It plays to the image of an uncaring patrician that his rivals want to create. Read more from Mark Mardell in New Hampshire.

We wrote a little earlier that there are six candidates remaining in the Republican race. Of course, there are six MAIN candidates left standing. But - as this picture sent in by the BBC's Maria Byrne shows - there are plenty of people actually listed on the ballot...

Tumultuous scenes earlier at the Webster School in Manchester, when Newt and Callista Gingrich arrived to visit a polling station. An extraordinary media scrum for a candidate not expected even to finish in the top three. The candidate seemed to enjoy it all, pausing - as he is always wont to do - to get into policy discussions with any real person brave enough to make it through the wall of jostling cameras.

More from BBC's Paul Adams in Manchester: Gingrich's supporters were there too. One told me Newt was the most "presidential" of the candidates and said his decision to convert to the Catholic faith was a big part of his appeal. "He will put God back into our country," she said.

Ron Paul visited his last polling place at Bedford High School today. Dennis Taylor, a local resident, was able to shake the candidate's hand, and says he's concerned about the collapse of the dollar and how that affects trading with Europe. "I'm impressed by his integrity. He doesn't have the support of the corporations like the other candidates and he doesn't flip flop," Mr Taylor said.

The Washington Post's what-to-watch guide to the exit polls says Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman's prospects could depend on voters who aren't even registered with the Republican Party.

As the BBC's Daniel Nasaw reports, Rick Santorum has tried to broaden his message after finding that his opposition to gay marriage and abortion hasn't played as well with voters in the Granite State.

If Romney doesn't win here it would be a huge upset. Given most are pretty sure he will win, commentators are sharpening their quills ready to argue that it is the size of the win that matters. Some say he has to score more than the 32% he got in 2008. Some feel 38% is nearer the mark. One says under 40% and he's vulnerable. How true is this? I am not sure but this is more about momentum than mathematics. If America's pundits decide he's in trouble, then he probably is.

The polls have been open for several hours now, and election officials are suggesting this year could see record or near-record numbers of voters turning out. That's despite a slow but steady start to the day in some parts, according to New Hampshire's Union-Leader newspaper.

A reminder that during his manque 2008 campaign for the presidency, Romney captured 31.6% of the vote, but that wasn't enough to win in the state. John McCain defied pollsters' predictions that year by taking 37% of the vote and winning the Granite State, before becoming the eventual Republican nominee. Just goes to show, political crystal-ball gazers sometimes get it wrong.

Front-runner Romney faces attacks not just from his Republican rivals, but from Obama's party, too. Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz tells the BBC in New Hampshire: "[Voters] need to know the experience that he touts in the private sector is experience that primarily shifted jobs overseas, fired people, dismantled companies, decimated health plans. That's not the kind of experience that Americans are looking for."

Rick Santorum has become the Evo Morales of Republican candidates. He's flogging branded sweater vests for $100 a pop: http://abcn.ws/yBrnaZ Maths question: How many sweaters must Rick sell to buy as much ad space as Newt in South Carolina?

Some New Hampshire facts: population 1.3 million; 92% are white; median age is 40; state capital Concord has less than 43,000 residents. You never know, this may come in handy one day in a pub quiz...

Carl Kelly, a 47-year-old artist from Boston, drew an oil pastel portrait of Ron Paul on the pavement in downtown Manchester, captioned by the slogan "Long live the constitution". Daniel Nasaw, BBC News, New Hampshire asked the artist about his support for Ron Paul. He said: "The neo-conservative take-over has destroyed what the Republican Party was, and he's restoring it. Look at the results in Iowa: He's bringing fresh people, he's bringing all the youth into it."

The first exit poll results have started trickling through. The Associated Press news agency spoke to more than 1,700 New Hampshire voters and the economy was their number one concern. Ability to defeat Obama was also viewed as more important than experience or moral character. Could this augur well for Romney? He has been identified in a number of opinion polls as the most "electable" Republican candidate.

Also, about two-thirds of those in the AP exit poll said they were dissatisfied with the array of Republican candidates. This has also been a common bellyache in previous surveys, and has some pundits wondering if it could depress turnout for the Republican vote in November's election.

Mitt Romney is at the cinema, according to a tweet from an employee at the Cinemagic movie theatre in Hooksett, New Hampshire. Apparently he is watching Mission: Impossible at their IMAX screen!

While we're on the topic of exit polls, here are a few facts from the exit polls conducted back in 2008: A slim majority of 52% said they believed abortion should be legal and the economy was the most election important issue. Some 38% of voters said they believed Mitt Romney shared their values, more than any other Republican cadidate in that year's contest.

Which way will independent voters - who make up 40% of the electorate in New Hampshire - swing? Pundits are saying they could significantly impact the outcome of the primary, since there isn't a Democratic challenger to vote for today. Politico's Glenn Thrush notes that Romney is finding it just as hard as Obama to win this critical constituency over...

Real Clear Politics' Scott Conroy shows how underdog Jon Huntsman's grass-roots campaign is relying on good old-fashioned shoe leather in the hope of a breakthrough in New Hampshire.

We're getting into the final minutes of voting in some parts of New Hampshire. Many polling stations will close at 19:00 local time (00:00 GMT) and the last polls will close at 20:00 local. We can expect to see the first results from exit polls trickling in soon after that.

An early winner in tonight's vote would raise interesting questions: Who will take second and third place in New Hampshire? By what margin has Mitt Romney taken the state?

Franz Strasser, BBC News, Manchester: The Huntsman campaign party is taking place at a self-described "American Bar and Grill". For every voter there are about 50 journalists here, all waiting to see if Huntsman can leap-frog Ron Paul to take second place.

Fox News' data suggests that independent voters were deeply split, with about 30% of them picking Romney, 29% choosing Paul and 27% opting for Huntsman.

The Ron Paul campaign is decking out its primary party venue ahead of results, expected soon.

More from the exit polls: CNN finds that as many as 46% of voters couldn't make up their minds about which way to vote until a few days before the primary.

Daniel Nasaw, BBC News, New Hampshire, at Rick Santorum's primary party, reports: George Michael's Freedom is playing over the PA system - a curious selection for a candidate who is known for his fierce opposition to gay marriage, and who once likened homosexuality to bestiality. Meanwhile, a video is showing scenes of horses and cowboy life. Also an odd choice for a candidate from Pennsylvania, campaigning in hilly New Hampshire.

Franz Strasser, BBC News, New Hampshire reports that residents Kelly Carter-Currier and her husband Jack are attending Jon Huntsman's party tonight, even though Jack had voted for Mitt Romney earlier in the day. "I like what Huntman's daughters said about their father having worked for a Democrat and having always put his country first," Kelly said. "Why can't we all work together?"

says: We are getting the feeling that this is an easy win for Romney. Only Manchester has counted and he has 38% in that one town. Interesting, but no guide to results in the rest of the state.

And what of Buddy Roemer? Esquire published an in-depth profile of the former Louisiana governor, who has struggled to spread his message with voters and has not appeared in nationally televised debates. But he is on the ballot in New Hampshire and it remains to be seen whether he can get any traction with voters there.

The Romney campaign has indicated he may give what looks like a victory speech soon.

The Associated Press is now reporting that Mitt Romney has won the New Hampshire primary. This makes him the first Republican candidate to win both Iowa and New Hampshire since Iowa became the state to hold its nominating contest first since 1976, the agency says.

It has also been announced that President Barack Obama has won the Democratic primary in New Hampshire. In 2008, he lost in the state's primary to rival candidate Hillary Clinton. This year, his candidacy was not challenged by any other Democratic candidates.

Celebratory music is now playing in the Romney campaign HQ, and crowds are cheering. He is expected to take to the stage within minutes. Stay tuned.

Mitt Romney's wife, Ann, along with all five of the Romney sons have taken to the stage.

We now have about 16% of the vote counted and Huntsman seems to have slightly increased his grip on the numbers. He is now at 18% of the vote, up from 15% but still behind Ron Paul and Mitt Romney.

Mrs Romney is looking radiant in a white suit and pearls, thanking her husband's backers, campaign organisers, volunteers and voters.

Chants of "Mitt, Mitt, Mitt" rebound around Romney's primary party as he tells cheering supporters: "Tonight we made history!"

Romney says President Obama has run out of ideas, and run out of excuses; urges supporters to ensure this is the year he runs out of time.

"We have to offer an alternative vision," Romney tells the crowd. He is already looking ahead to the next vote in South Carolina, calling on voters there to join the people of New Hampshire and back his bid for the White House.

Romney says Obama wants to turn America into a European-style welfare state - we want to make sure we remain a prosperous and free land of opportunity. Obama puts his faith in government - we put our faith in the American people, Romney adds to more cheers.

Romney pauses, as the chants from the crowd become so loud they threaten to drown out his voice. He says he will insist on a military so powerful no-one will think of ever challenging it.

Romney also promises to repeal "Obamacare", the landmark healthcare legislation passed in 2010 that was modelled on a plan implemented in Massachusetts while Romney was governor.

Franz Strasser, BBC News, New Hampshire: All the television sets in the restaurant where Huntsman is hosting his party are on mute and the stage microphone is merely been used for sound checks so far. Romney's primary win has completely passed this audience by. The focus is now on Ron Paul and an uphill fight for second place. With not even a fifth of the votes counted, Huntsman trails Paul by 7%.

Daniel Nasaw, BBC News, New Hampshire: At the Santorum party, supporter state Senator Fenton Groen tells me he's nervous. He says the conservative vote will be split, to Santorum's detriment. He says victory for Santorum is a third-place finish. "This is a nail-biting time." He adds that the goal is to keep the former senator in the top three tonight and ride the momentum into South Carolina.

says: Romney's speech sounded as though he had won the nomination, rather than just New Hampshire. He hasn't yet - although he is well on his way. The anti-Mitt conservatives will certainly try one last heave in South Carolina. But he scolded them and warned them not to attack his business record of sacking workers, suggesting that was "resentment of success".

Nearly 29% of the vote has been counted, and Romney is comfortably in the lead on about 36%. Ron Paul is due to speak soon. He is second on 24.4%, while Huntsman is third on 16.7%.

Ron Paul is on the stage now. He kicked off his remarks with thanks to his organisers and backers. He makes a special shout out to New Hampshire's Union Leader newspaper, thanking it for not endorsing him!

Ron Paul congratulates Romney on a "clear-cut victory", but tells his supporters his campaign is "nibbling at his heels" and declares the result a victory for the cause of liberty. He agrees with his critics that he is a "danger", but only to the status quo and the federal reserve system.

says: Tonight's speech by Romney was utterly unlike late-night clumsy stump speech after his narrow win in Iowa. This was a proper victory speech, confidently delivered (with the help of teleprompters). The crowd loved it.

Ron Paul is now talking about his pet subject of monetary policy, saying the Federal Reserve is an easy mechanism for the government to hide the extent of the nation's debt.

says: Atmosphere was electric as Romney gave his victory speech. No waiting for last minute results tonight. Network projections will do. Whoops and cheers as Romney attacked Obama's record and his own "desperate" Republican rivals (a thinly veiled attack on Newt Gingrich).

Ron Paul calls for bringing US troops home. The crowd is electric, chanting "Bring them home!" as he continues talking. His supporters certainly can't be faulted for a lack of enthusiasm.

Ron Paul reaffirms his vow to cut $1 trillion from the budget. He decries pledges from Washington politicians to trim spending over several years, and says the government's commitments to social security recipients are under threat.

Paul fires up the crowd when he returns to his theme that the purpose of government is to protect liberty. "Freedom is popular," he says, adding that he applauds young people for getting involved in the fight to protect liberty.

"We're well on our way," Ron Paul tells his supporters. He says the "irate minority" is growing by leaps and bounds. As he leaves the stage, chants of "President Paul" ring out from the crowd.

Texas Governor Rick Perry, who skipped campaigning in New Hampshire, has said in a statement that Romney's win means "the race for 'conservative alternative' to Mitt Romney remains wide open". Calling himself the only non-establishment outsider in the race and the only "proven fiscal and social conservative and proven job creator", he says he's had a "head start" in South Carolina, the next early voting state to head to the polls. At last check, with 45% of votes counted, Perry has attracted less than 1% of votes in the Granite State.

At a packed restaurant venue, a bubbling crowd of Huntsman supporters are shouting "Country First!" as the former Utah governor is called to the stage.

Huntsman is on the stage with his wife beside him. "We're in the hunt!" he tells his supporters, calling third place a "ticket to ride".

"Hello South Carolina." says Huntsman, indicating that he will take his campaign on to the next nominating contest. Huntsman tells his supporters that his grass-roots campaign in New Hampshire was won the "old-fashioned way", conversation by conversation, handshake by handshake.

Huntsman begins his remarks by saying he wants to "square" with the American people, and that the nation's crippling debt is a national security problem.

The election is about economics and education, Huntsman tells the crowd.

Next, he pledges to address the "trust deficit" in Washington by imposing term limits and closing the "revolving door" between members of Congress and lobbyists.

Turning to his experiences as the US ambassador to China, he tells the crowd: "I saw this nation from 10,000 miles away" adding that it appeared great but temporarily down and he vowed that it would "rise up again".

"Leadership, and a plan", is what Huntsman pledges to bring to the White House. He says he will not allow veterans to return home to unemployment, pledging "jobs and opportunity" for returning troops. "There's another Greatest Generation coming up," he says.

Huntsman calls his victory the result of "pounding the pavement" and tells the people of New Hampshire that they "believed in a better future".

Huntsman concludes his short speech with an upbeat "Here we go to South Carolina!" as he joins hands with his wife and daughters, and confetti falls over the stage.

Daniel Nasaw, BBC News, New Hampshire, reporting from the Santorum campaign venue says: Exit polls show Santorum in a horse race with Newt Gingrich for fourth place but the mood here seems strangely ambivalent. Some supporters are glumly watching the returns on a large projection TV, while others are chatting and sipping drinks.

Rick Santorum is now expected to take to the stage within minutes. In the meantime, the Gingrich campaign is calling up New Hampshire campaign organisers to the stage, as his party gets underway.

More than half the votes are in now. With first, second and third place clear already, all eyes are turning to fourth and fifth spots. Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum stand at 9.8% each, with just 12 votes in it.

Franz Strasser, BBC News, New Hampshire reports on the Huntsman supporters gathered in Manchester: It's a very young crowd and most of them have been standing between the restaurant's bar and the stage for the last three hours. With beer signs shining as bright as the three massive chandeliers above, this is not a location where you give presidential speeches, but also not the place to announce a suspension of the campaign.

He says the main aim is to beat President Obama and begins a story about his coal miner grandfather - a common theme for Mr Santorum.

Rick Santorum - who is batting it out with Newt Gingrich for fourth place in New Hampshire - tells supporters they built a campaign in the state with little money or time.

Gingrich is up on stage with his wife, Callista, standing beside him. He thanks the supporters up on stage with him and tells the crowd that being on the campaign trail has helped him to learn about America.

Mr Santorum vows to go on the South Carolina and says the race is far from over - and says he told Mitt Romney he wanted to engage with him on the issues.

Gingrich calls New Hampshire's primary "Step two of a long process". In characteristic style, the former history lecturer begins by telling the crowd that he wants to put things into historical perspective. He also pledges to go on to South Carolina, saying he will offer the American people "something very different".

Gingrich runs through his many years of experience, saying he learnt from Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher. Under a Gingrich presidency and Republican Congress, he says, it would be "amazing" how much could get done.

Santorum tells supporters the race must go to a "true conservative" and assures them "we can win". They like that.

Daniel Nasaw, BBC News, New Hampshire,reporting from the Santorum campaign venue, says: Santorum gets a hearty cheer when he pledges to move on to South Carolina. A respectful applause as he congratulates Mitt Romney.

Gingrich tells the crowd that his campaign is heading to South Carolina this very night.

Gingrich applauds the American system, saying it has created more prosperity than any other system in the world. He says the Washington system is "so strange", and that he would govern in the way of the American people.

Santorum promised to secure "huge victory" in the general election and called "on to South Carolina". The supporters cheered, but it was nothing like his emotionally charged post-caucus speech last week in Iowa.

Gingrich promises the opposite of the Obama programme, and urges the crowd to call everyone they know in South Carolina and Florida. He says the "entire pattern of how Washington operates" must change, adding that not just the president, but the bureaucracy and the judges must change too.

With 65% of the vote in, Gingrich has slipped behind Santorum by a whisker - he's now got 9.7% of the vote, lagging in fifth place by 0.1%. At the front of the pack Romney, Paul and Huntsman are all holding steady with their proportions of the vote.

Gingrich ends by saying that he will fight "on behalf of our children, our grandchildren and our country" to win the presidency. He leaves the stage speedily, with a brief wave to the crowds as he goes.

Daniel Nasaw, BBC News, New Hampshire reports from the Santorum primary party: The crowd finally showed a bit of life and enthusiasm when the candidate vowed to fight on in South Carolina. But I can't help but observe it's a small group, albeit with a great deal of energy.

Nate Sliver, blogging for the New York Times, has noted that while Mitt Romney's win in New Hampshire is a solid result for the former Massachusetts governor, with around 37% of the vote his results are slightly lower than the numbers projected by his polling. He also notes that there isn't a candidate who seems likely to drop out of the race based on his results in tonight's primary.

Behold clips of primary winnner Mitt Romney calling time on Obama's presidency; Ron Paul saying his campaign is dangerous to the status quo; and Jon Huntsman saying his third-place finish is a ticket to ride.

With almost 75% of the votes in, Santorum and Gingrich appear to be in a dead heat for fourth place. With every few votes that trickle in, one has leapt ahead of the other, but they both remain stuck below the 10% threshold.

You can also read the full texts of winner Mitt Romney and runner-up Ron Paul's speeches tonight as they both looked forward to the next battleground of South Carolina.

Vermin Supreme, a performance artist who has long been a fixture at state and national elections, was on the scene in New Hampshire tonight. Styling himself a "friendly fascist", his key policies include a national tooth-brushing law and offering federally subsidised ponies to every US citizen. He is one of several little-known candidates whose names appeared on the presidential ballot in Tuesday's vote.

You can now check out clips of Newt Gingrich vowing to battle on to South Carolina and Florida, and of Rick Santorum, who told supporters that without much money or time to get his message out in New Hampshire he would keep his momentum alive in South Carolina.

The vote tally is still coming in but by now over 80% of ballots have been counted. Mitt Romney remains firmly in the lead on 39.2%. He may yet pass the 40% threshold, which some pundits said would give him a landslide.

Behind Romney, Ron Paul is hovering at 23% of the vote and Jon Huntsman has crept up to 17%, holding firm in third place. Trailing the pack, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum appear to be tied in fourth place but have seen their share shrink ever so slightly - now both have under 10% of the vote. Rick Perry is way behind with a minuscule 0.7% at last check.

So, New Hampshire has seen Mitt Romney consolidate his position as frontrunner in the Republican presidential race, locking down a more decisive victory in New Hampshire than his whisker-thin eight vote edge last week in Iowa. It remains to be seen how the US media and experts will interpret this result tomorrow, and whether Romney's likely 39% of the vote will put enough wind in his sails to help carry him towards the nomination.

But the non-Romney field continues to fluctuate, with Rick Santorum slipping out of the top tier and Ron Paul pulling off a second solid showing at the polls. It is not clear whether Jon Huntsman's finish in third place tonight will give him the momentum he needs to make his mark in the subsequent nominating contests.

Finally, it will be interesting to see whether Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum can manage to scrape past the 10% mark - the threshold they must cross to gain a share of the delegates who vote for New Hampshire at the Republican convention. If they don't, their efforts in the state may have been wasted.

With 92% of the votes now counted, CNN predicts that as many as 246,000 Republican voters may have turned out at the polls in New Hampshire on Tuesday, topping turnout in 2008 when 240,000 people went to the polls.

We now move on to South Carolina, which hits the polls on 21 January. Until then, you can keep abreast of all the latest election-year news, including the final tally of votes in the New Hampshire primary, on our special US 2012 site. Thanks for being with us.