Capital New York

Ron Paul's second-place finish in New Hampshire should make him the leading anti-Romney candidate, ahead of Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and the rest of the Republican field of presidential candidates.

But is he, really?

Steve Kornacki writes that Paul's libertarian candidacy is akin to presidential campaigns run by Jesse Jackson, Jerry Brown and Pat Buchanan that "attracted real followings but that didn't grow their support as other candidates dropped out."

In other words, Kornacki writes, "he's not not at all positioned to become a consensus candidate within the party."

Which in turn may help convince Gingrich and others to stay in the race, diluting the not-Romney vote and keeping him on what John Podhoretz, in a column entitled "Never has a winner looked so beaten," calls "the glide path" to the Republican nomination.

Some links:

New Hampshire

Ron Paul is now the leading challenger to Romney: "Paul ran even with Romney among voters with household incomes below $50,000 and among those who cited the deficit as their top issue." [Beth Fouhy]

Former governor Bill Weld said it's "impossible to get enough delegates for the nomination before April 24." [Hillary Chabot]

Up next is South Carolina, "a place famous for surfacing the dark undercurrents of American politics." [Jim Rutenberg]

Nate Silver predicted Romney's 39 percent, on the nose, but he was 5 percentage points off on Ron Paul. [Five Thirty Eight]

Romney "will still benefit handsomely by having five rivals still competing against one another." [Jeff Zeleny]

"I am watching mitt romney lie his way through his speech in new hampshire. i sometimes hate this frigging business." [Diane Savino]

White House

Obama's new chief of staff has a home in Riverdale. [Noah Rosenberg]

Albany

Cuomo's diss of the "Assembly-led legislation" yesterday was a "take-no-prisoners statement." [Erik Kriss]

Queens

State Senator Tony Avella sides with the group Eastern Queens United, and warns about "gerrymandering in reverse" in order to create an Asian district, as another local organization is urging. [Lisa Colangelo]

Special Elections

An anti-Democratic-organization editorial page wants Cuomo to make reforming the state's ballot-access laws a priority. [New York Post]

2013

A Obama supporter from the Bronx wants Adolfo Carrion to run for mayor, because "why not?" [@HaileRivera]

City Hall

The city's chief actuary wants to lower the assumed "rate of return" on pension investments from 8 percent to 7. [Josh Margolin]

City Council

Speaker Christine Quinn will feel pressure to pass at least one of the two bills being pushed by organized labor, paid sick days or living wage, labor believes. [Sally Goldenberg and Josh Margolin]

Crime

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer wants the police to release the number of hate crimes reported in 2011. [Kate Taylor]

Images

 Bloomberg swears in new police recruits. [Edward Reed]

The Village Voice makes a front-page story about people important enough to denounce. [Steven Thrasher]

And here are the front pages from a few sites after Romney's victory last night.

Azi Paybarah

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