HAMPSTEAD NH—Over the past week, Jon Huntsman has said he needs a “market moving event” to perform well in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary. Today might have been his exactly what he was hoping for.
Throughout the day, the self-ascribed underdog Huntsman has turned an attack by Mitt Romney into an opportunities to hit back, expressing exactly how he feels about the front-runner.

At this morning’s Meet the Press/Facebook debate, Huntsman opened with a reference to an attack from Romney at another GOP debate last night, in which the former Massachusetts governor criticized Huntsman for
serving as Obama’s ambassador to China.

"I was criticized last night by Gov. Romney for putting my country first," Huntsman said this morning on the debate stage in Concord. "He criticized me, while he was out raising money, for serving my country in China, like my two sons who are in the United States Navy … I will always put my country first. I think that's important.”

Later this afternoon, at a coffee shop miles away from the stage, Huntsman was asked if he felt that he “found his voice.”

Clad in his signature bomber jacket emblazoned with “Governor Huntsman” and an American flag, Huntsman did not politely steer away from attacking his rival as he is wont to do. For once, he capitalized on the attack and fired back.

“Let's just be honest about it. I put my country first. Apparently, Mitt Romney doesn't believe in putting country first,” Huntsman told
reporters. “He's got this bumper sticker that says ‘believe in America.’ How can you believe in America when you're not willing to
serve America? That's just phony nonsense.”

Referring to Romney’s ubiquitous blue bumper stickers and signs that far outnumber his red counterparts along New Hampshire roads, Huntsman explained a position he and his wife Mary Kaye have articulated ad nauseam at more than 160 public events across the state.

“I say I served my country, I step up when my president asked and I always will, its part of my philosophy. I know it may be hard for Mitt Romney and some people to take, but most of America is with me because in the end they want this America to be working together.”

With just over 36 hours hours to go until voting begins in the first-in-nation primary, Huntsman declared he will continue to make his case to voters until the final hour. He has told reporters he doesn’t have to come in first, but only needs to “beat market expectations.” With polls ticking up for him in recent days, Huntsman is optimistic that his decision to focus his entire campaign in the Granite State will propel him to the next stop, South Carolina.

"We're going to barnstorm this state as we have been doing for months, more so than any other candidate," Huntsman said. "We're going to remind people that the underdog is out there, the underdog that can change this country. But in order for the underdog to perform at the top, we need the help of the people."

BEDFORD, NH -- As Rick Santorum is surging toward a strong finish in Iowa, his campaign believes he is well positioned for a better-than-expected performance in the next contest: the New Hampshire primary.

"We are ready," Santorum state director Nick Pappas told NBC News. "We are not going to be behind the eight ball on this one. It's just a matter of time, we are definitely prepared for what is coming."

Even before he began to rise in the Iowa polls, Santorum was bullish on his chances in the Granite State, where he plans to campaign immediately after the Jan. 3 caucuses. "I guess I feel very confident we are going to do well here, but we're just taking it a day at a time and working hard at it," he told NBC News in Merrimack, back in early December.

Santorum's strategy here is nearly identical to his Iowa ground game: old school retail politics that is all about frequency. His events, like in Iowa, often only garner a handful voters each (and sometimes just this NBC News reporter). But Santorum has built an organization that his campaign thinks will be able to wage a noble fight in the final days ahead of the first-in-the-nation primary.

For starters, Santorum's national campaign director, Mike Biundo, is a New Hampshire political expert who has been involved in local politics for the better part of 20 years. He has directed successful mayoral and congressional campaigns for Rep. Frank Guinta (R-NH). Chosen early on to head up Santorum's New Hampshire political action committee, Biundo is also no stranger to presidential campaigns; he worked for Tommy Thompson in 2000 and helped drive Pat Buchanan to a New Hampshire primary victory in 1996.

In October, when Biundo was elevated to national political director and then national campaign manager, it was clear New Hampshire would remain a key state for the shoe-string campaign, and Biundo would help Santorum learn from others' mistakes.

"We talked about what happened with Huckabee in New Hampshire in 2008," Biundo told NBC News, recalling his first conversation with Santorum in December of 2010. "Huckabee was up coming into New Hampshire but without spending a lot of time or groundwork here. So we knew, to bring momentum to South Carolina, we had to put together a very good organization in New Hampshire early -- so if Iowa did what we thought, we would come into New Hampshire with something work with."

"New Hampshire strategy starts with hard work and it can't happen in a week," Biundo added.

The efforts has produced six-person staff that looks very much like the "little engine that could" that Santorum often refers to in Iowa. A small army of faithful volunteers manage daily responsibilities and have put out more campaign road-side signs than any campaign except Mitt Romney. If signs indicated campaign strength, Santorum would place a close second.  The navy blue signs dotted with a white eagle are in every corner of the state.

In addition, Santorum has a modest -- yet pronounced -- base of conservative support. Today, five more state representatives endorsed him, adding to a list that now totals 22. Despite his low polling, Santorum managed to snag rare state senator and county sheriff endorsements, the latter from the same county where Mitt Romney owns a vacation home.

Santorum also hopes to be on the air soon with television and radio ads. He has not aired any spots to date with little money to spare.

On the issues, Santorum's socially conservative credentials have been an unlikely advantage in a state whose Republicans are considered more moderate than those in Iowa. Conservative activists like Karen Testerman -- who previously served Michele Bachmann as a New Hampshire adviser -- have signed on because of his unabashed support of traditional family structures and anti-abortion rights position.

"Voters realize these issues are tied into their pocketbook," state director Pappas said. "Especially abortion, Planned Parenthood taking tax dollars, and broken families. Social issues are attached to the pocket book."

Lastly, Santorum has been a familiar face in New Hampshire, having campaigned in the state as much as Mitt Romney  has, and being second only to Jon Huntsman (who nowadays doesn't campaign anywhere else). And when he's on the ground here, he draws attention to his northeast roots, saying that his home of Pennsylvania "looks a whole lot like Manchester and Nashua."

Pappas, the New Hampshire director, says they aim to lock down 70 to 80% of voters at every event, big or (mostly) small. And Santorum has no problem doing campaign stops with attendees counted on one hand. In the far reaches of north country, Santorum told NBC News he hopes the personal touch will be remembered when voters walk into the voting booth January 10.

Still, Santorum has an enormous uphill battle to do well in New Hampshire. In addition to receiving just single digits in the latest Suffolk/7News poll, the survey finds him with a net-negative image.

"They have the core of a very solid foundation here because they've worked hard over the past year. But ... the big challenge is his image ratings are poor. He is upside down in his favorability ratings, and probably over 80% of the state already has an opinion of him," explained Rich Killion, an unaffiliated political consultant who formerly supported Tim Pawlenty.

Killion expects to see a bump from Santorum's Iowa performance, but believes it's unlikely the candidate can pull off a miraculous victory. National campaign manager Biundo is realistic but hopeful.

"We just have to do better than people expect here, and I think we'll be able to do that," said Biundo.

As for Santorum himself, Biundo says the former two-term Pennsylvania senator believes in his on-the-ground model more than ever and refuses to be anything but positive in the face of an enormous Romney campaign that has largely dominated the state.

"When Iowa ended up lighting the fire, we knew there would be plenty of kindle in New Hampshire to build on the momentum," Biundo said.

BEDFORD, N.H. -- Scoring one of the last major endorsements in New Hampshire, Mitt Romney announced Saturday night that he has been endorsed by Manchester Mayor Ted Gatsas with exactly one month to go until the first-in-the-nation primary.

Gatsas, who leads the state's largest city and has served as the state Senate president, said Romney's electability was a deciding factor.

“After spending 25 years in the private sector as a successful businessman, Mitt knows how to balance budgets, fix broken enterprises and create jobs. He is also the strongest Republican candidate with the best organization to take on President Obama in 2012,” Gatsas said in a statement to NBC News.

“I am also impressed with the time and effort that he has invested in New Hampshire,” Gatsas added.

Gatsas, who endorsed John McCain in 2008 over Romney, will appear with the former Massachusetts governor on Monday morning at Manchester's Chez Vachon restaurant, a frequented stop on the New Hampshire campaign trail.

Romney also recently cemented the support of Sen. Kelly Ayotte, Rep. Charlie Bass and state Senate President Peter Bragdon -- and he has won a majority of key local endorsements.

"As a successful entrepreneur, Ted understands the challenges facing small business owners, and he has supported pro-growth policies tha twill help them create jobs,” said Romney. “I am proud to have earned Ted’s support."

Gatsas was reelected as mayor in a landslide in November. Before assuming public office, he co-founded Staffing Network, a company that became one of New England's largest employers. Gatsas has said publicly that he is considering a run for New Hampshire governor, to be vacated next year by Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat.

With the New Hampshire primary four weeks away, most of the major GOP endorsements have been snapped up. Two major players remain unaffiliated: Congressman Frank Guinta and state House Speaker Bill O'Brien.

O'Brien is widely expected to back another House speaker -- Newt Gingrich. Guinta recently told NBC News that he has whittled his list down to Romney, Gingrich, Jon Huntsman and Rick Santorum.

New Hampshire voters go to the polls Jan. 10.

Manchester NH -— With the future of his campaign in question, Herman Cain did not rule out leaving the race, saying once again he will “reassess and reevaluate” the impact of recent events on his family, his campaign strategy and fundraising for “another few days.” Cain indicated he will make his final decision on the campaign when he sees his wife face-to-face this Friday.

“There’s some people who thought that I was finished but I’m going to leave it with Yogi Berra’s comment, ‘It ain’t over ‘til it’s over!’ And it ain’t over yet,” Cain bellowed to volunteers into his tightly-packed New Hampshire headquarters on Wednesday evening.

Yet just minutes later at a press conference, Cain did not explicitly rule out dropping out of the race for the GOP nomination, calling the accusations against him “character assassinations.” Cain has been accused by four women of inappropriate sexual misconduct. Ginger White is the fifth to come forward.

“We are going to reevaluate,” Cain said, after a one-day bus tour in Ohio today. “We had a strategy up until last weekend, we might reprioritize.”

Cain admitted he has not yet spoken to his wife Gloria face-to-face about the most recent allegations of a 13-year extramarital affair by Georgia-based Ginger White. Cain said he has spoken to his wife by phone.

“I have discussed this with my wife many times since Monday,” he told reporters. “She’s doing great.”

Cain also plans to discuss the future of the campaign with her when he returns home to Atlanta on Friday. As of now, the Georgia businessman plans to unveil the third pillar of his major policies, his energy plan, but did say much depended on his conversation with his wife this weekend.

In the aftermath of the allegation by White, Cain also conceded that cash flow to the campaign has slowed down significantly.

“A few of our warm weather supporters have gotten off the Cain train,” he told voters, before quickly adding that fundraising in the last few days is “picking up.”

The former pizza magnate also emphasized that this reassessment was “not a knee-jerk” reaction to the recent sexual allegations against him. However, he declined to comment on how this recent spate of news has caused his campaign to publicly reevaluate his position in the GOP race for the first time since entering.

Cain continues his New Hampshire visit tomorrow afternoon with a meeting with the Union Leader newspaper editorial team, despite the fact they endorsed Newt Gingrich on Sunday. It will be broadcast C-SPAN.

By NBC's Jo Ling Kent

Merrimack NH--On Monday evening, a visibly energized Jon Huntsman zeroed in on New Hampshire front-runner Mitt Romney and attacked him sharply, in a state where the former Utah governor has staked his entire presidential campaign.

With just 43 days left until the New Hampshire first-in-the-nation primary, Huntsman questioned Romney's ability to shake up Washington and Wall Street as president.

"Anyone who is in the hip pocket of Wall Street because of all the donations they are picking up, like Mr. Romney, is in these days is not going to be the change agent who is going to fix the too big to fail banking system," Huntsman told about 80 voters at a town hall-style meeting. This was his 110th public campaign stop in New Hampshire.

Huntsman also attempted to downplay the recent string of New Hampshire congressional endorsements Romney has received. Last week, the former Massachusetts governor won the support of Senator Kelly Ayotte and Rep. Charlie Bass, two of the three Republicans in the Granite State congressional delegation.

"You should be wary of any candidate who carries the endorsements of every member of Congress, because it means they're going to be a status quo president," Huntsman said.

At the same time, Huntsman said over the weekend that he is courting newspaper editorial board endorsements across the state, north to south. Yesterday Newt Gingrich received the influential support of the New Hampshire Union Leader, an endorsement that was not expected to go to Huntsman.

The former ambassador to China, who is currently polling at 8 percent in New Hampshire, also presented his own plan to shake up Washington: impose a lifetime ban on lobbying for members of Congress, tie salaries to performance, and impose term limits.

Huntsman vowed to cut the salaries of members of Congress "until they balance the damn budget."

In the final stretch to the January 10 primary, Huntsman says he is "jubilant" about where he stands among the candidates despite his single digit support.

"I want a sustained rise that is not fickle," Huntsman said, accompanied by his wife Mary Kaye. "You have to lay a substantive ground work here in NH...I don't want 15 minutes of fame."

Huntsman wraps up this campaign swing Thursday and will travel to South Carolina on Friday for more town hall meetings this weekend.