Splintered GOP Seeks Unifying Presence

After that election, the state Republican Party abandoned its traditional home on Main Street in Concord, across from the State House, and moved a mile away to a reconditioned private residence behind a drive-in restaurant. Fergus Cullen, who took over as state GOP chairman after the debacle, has installed a new staff.

The chairman of one of the presidential campaigns, a longtime party activist, said, after soliciting a promise of anonymity: "There is no party here anymore. It's just a shell."

Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, has been at the top of the Republican presidential field in New Hampshire for months, but his competitors have been a puzzle to many in the state. In early summer, an aura of expectation was created about Thompson's candidacy, but his initial appearances fell flat. Then Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, upped his television ads and personal appearances, but he has now canceled some events, cut back his ad spending and is no longer making a major effort.

That has allowed McCain, the Arizona senator, to restart the heavy schedule of town meetings and television ads he had curtailed when his campaign ran out of money early in the summer. Huckabee is thought to have a "low ceiling" in New Hampshire, where far fewer of the Republicans identify themselves as evangelical voters than do so in Iowa.

In Iowa, the race has largely narrowed to a two-man contest between Huckabee and Romney, with Thompson doing his best to surprise people with a strong third-place finish. McCain and Giuliani have all but abandoned any retail efforts in the state.

Party officials and strategists for the Iowa presidential candidates predict that about 80,000 people will participate in the party's caucuses, a drop from the 125,000 who participated in 2004. By contrast, some Democratic Party strategists expect to see as many as 150,000 Democrats gather the same night.

"Maybe people haven't found this perfect candidate," said Mary Tiffany, the spokeswoman for the Iowa GOP. "Maybe they like how Huckabee incorporates his faith. Maybe they like Romney's business experience. Maybe they like John McCain and his experience with foreign policy. We don't have this candidate who really is . . . I don't know, who is the perfect candidate."

Broder reported from New Hampshire. Staff writers Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, Jonathan Weisman, Perry Bacon Jr. and Alec MacGillis contributed to this report.