Derry, N.H.

The menu at MaryAnn’s Diner on East Broadway in Derry proclaims it “A Blast from the Past,” so it was presumably an appropriate venue for a consistent conservative like Rick Santorum to visit today. As he worked the lunchtime crowd, one grumpy diner looked up and complained to those of us hovering nearby and making his repast less peaceful than usual, “It’s over, Romney’s going to win, what’s the big deal?” To which the Londonderry resident standing next to me responded, “Maybe, but I’m voting for someone else to keep the race going.”

Is the sense that a Romney win in New Hampshire is inevitable helping or hurting him here? It’s probably not making much difference, but my (unreliable) impression is it’s hurting a bit, and that may be why he’s slipped a little in the last few days in all the polls.