Ben Motz of Indiana University looked at NFL games over a 25-year span, and found the home team won 57 percent of the time. Professor Motz did find the home team's winning percentage dropped with the advent of instant replay.

With last night's results part of history, the candidates and press turned very quickly to South Carolina, which the AP says "is shaping up to be a dogfight."

And the stakes are high: After winning New Hampshire, Mitt Romney became the first non-incumbent Republican to win the primary season's first two contests, so as Bloomberg puts it, South Carolina, which votes Jan. 21, may be the last chance opponents have to derail Romney.

In politics, success breeds success. That's why Mitt Romney is looking strong as attention turns to the next Republican primary in South Carolina.

Any expectations that Romney's fortunes might fade were overturned Tuesday in New Hampshire. The former Massachusetts governor won a solid plurality with some 39 percent of the vote — more than 15 percentage points ahead of his nearest rival, Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

The Federal Reserve usually worries about interest rates and inflation. But lately, Fed officials have been focusing on housing. They've been out in public, pushing measures they think will help the housing market. David Wessel, economics editor at The Wall Street Journal, talks to David Greene about proposed changes to mortgage financing.

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Now for some perspective. New Hampshire accounts for a tiny portion of the delegates Republicans are competing for – just five percent. Bigger states later on in the election season will award many more delegates. But voters in the Granite State feel their votes serve as an important vetting process, a springboard for candidates, and NPR's Andrea Seabrook spent election day talking to those voters.

While the Romney campaign was celebrating, his rivals were contemplating. After wins in New Hampshire and Iowa, stopping Romney's march to the nomination has become much harder. Still, Tuesday's results in New Hampshire mean different things to different candidates. For Ron Paul, second place is validation that his message is attracting new voters and young people. But for others, the primary raised basic questions of viability.

A growth of 3 percent is not bad, given all the European turmoil. But there's a downside in the report. It shows the German economy shrinking a bit at the end of 2011.

As expected, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney won the New Hampshire primary. Texas Rep. Ron Paul clinched second place — ahead of former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman. Paul told a crowd of supporters that he was nibbling at the heels of the front-runner.

Mitt Romney's back-to-back wins give him powerful momentum heading into the next set of GOP contests. Ron Paul came in second in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary followed by Jon Huntsman. A week ago, Romney won the Iowa caucuses.

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It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep.

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And I'm David Greene.

Mitt Romney's double-digit win in New Hampshire plants his feet happily on the path to the Republican nomination heading, now, into South Carolina.