Jim Bragg, who calls himself Mitt Romney's "button-guy" is downstairs selling Romney campaign buttons, stickers, and blue and pink warm winter hats.  Bragg was selling buttons at the Romney camp in Iowa during the caucus, but says the New Hampshire supporters tonight are much more enthusiastic.  "This is a madhouse here," he says.  

Supporters of front-runner Mitt Romney are gathering downstairs in the dining hall at Southern New Hampshire University.  All the action will take place upstairs, but it won't be another 30 to 40 minutes before they start admitting the general public.  A group of young staffers say they're very optimistic about Mitt's chances of placing first.

Polls will be closing soon here in Manchester. Outside of the Gingrich Camp, NH House Representative Laurie Pettengill (R, Carroll 1) is hoping to sway a few more voters over to Newt Gingrich. After volunteering for Romney four years ago, the first-term Representative is attracted to Newt's ideas for balancing the budget. "The conservative party is important to me," she says. "He's the right mix that we need." 

In the hours before the polls close - and national reporters have nothing to do except bide their time before their live shots - there was some real buzz at the Santorum HQ.  Literally.  The audio system from the podium was plagued by a buzz.  Any audio engineer will tell you such a gremlin is caused by a crossed wire, a short inside a line, or the impedance on a sound line being switched the wrong way.  The problem is chasing it down among an army of radio and TV news crews.

NPR's Political Junkie Ken Rudin is on hand tonight to provide insight and analysis. You can follow him on Twitter at @KenRudin, and let us know your questions for him on our NHPR Facebook page, or @NHPR on Twitter. 

A coalition of hospitals in the state testified in federal court today/Tuesday that state budget cuts have forced them to restrict care for the poor.

Ten hospitals are suing the state over a $130 million reduction in Medicaid funding.

Hospital officials described the series of reductions they’ve had to make in response to state cuts dating back to 2008.

For example, Lakes Region General Hospital and Southern New Hampshire Medical Center now are turning away new Medicaid patients unless they are children, seniors or pregnant women.

In an earlier post, we spent a fair amount of time breaking down the economic impact of New Hampshire primary spending. (You can read that post here.)

Primary Day in New Hampshire turned into open season as GOP rivals launched a barrage of attacks seeking to undermine front-runner Mitt Romney, whose campaign hopes to live up to expectations that he will deliver a solid victory.

Not only does Romney need to win, he needs to win convincingly — holding challengers such as Rick Santorum, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich and a resurgent Jon Huntsman comfortably at arm's length.

In this latest podcast from the series Feet in Two Worlds, La Opinion's Pilar Marrero and freelance journalist Valeria Fernandez talk about the mood and opinions of Latino immigrants on the eve of the New Hampshire Primary. 

Polling supervisors describe turnout as steady as the primary gets underway. 

The early birds were waiting outside the  Cawley Middle School when the polls opened at 6.   By 7:30, about 300 people had cast their ballots.

Hooksett resident Diana Brighton picked Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney.

“Well, I think he can beat Obama and I like his politics.”

Electability and the prospect of defeating the current president were reasons given often by Romney voters. 

But former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman was the choice for Sam Knowles.