2016 New Hampshire GOP Primary - It's On!

The first in the nation primary in the 2016 GOP presidential Death March campaign is on in the state of New Hampshire and we already have some votes.
The voters of Dixville Notch voted 3 - 2 for the Ohio governor, John Kasich over businessman Donald J. Trump. 
It does not amount to much of anything but it gives a sense of some of the voting that will take part in the rest of the state.
In your humble blogger's estimation, the polls are all over the place and will probably turn out to be wrong.
Right now, as he has throughout the campaign season, Donald J. Trump is in the lead., In fact if you look at the polling averages over at Real Clear Politics, the Donald has a solid lead over Florida senator, Marco Rubio, leading by about 17 points. I think that the candidate to watch for in terms of potential victory or a very strong second is the aforementioned Gov. Kasich. Gov. Kasich is literally staking it all on a strong showing in New Hampshire to keep his campaign going. As he will tell you, repeatedly, Gov. Kasich has done 106 town hall meetings. It is one of the reasons that Gov. Kasich did so badly in Iowa. What that means to me is that Gov. Kasich does not have the ability to mount a nationwide campaign unless it gets something going out of New Hampshire. Any less than a second place finish and I think that Gov. Kasich is all but done. Same for former Florida governor, Jeb Bush and New Jersey governor, Chris Crispy, er Chirstie.
By all accounts, ground game matters and many believe that Gov. Kasich has one of the best.
Well, how will they finish?
Here is my order of finish, no percentages:

John Kasich
Donald J. Trump
Marco Rubio
Jeb! Bush
Ted Cruz
Chris Christie
Carly Fiorina
Ben Carson

Yep, I think that Gov. Kasich can beat the Donald. But the reason that I do not put any percentages is because I think it will be a close log jam for the top four spots. I don't think whether Gov. Kasich or the Donald would win by much.
Again, like Iowa, this is a state in which the delegates will be awarded proportionally. So as many as five candidates will have some delegates going into the next race of consequence, South Carolina. The GOP primary will be on February 20.
If you are bored and want to read all about the race from the local level, go to the New Hampshire Union Leader. For results later, there is the New Hampshire secretary of state website.
One thing for sure is that New Hampshire will not settle anything in the GOP presidential field. Maybe one or two candidates will drop out. No one really knows for sure.
But one thing is certain.
It makes South Carolina even more important than many thought at the beginning of the campaign season.