Guv has at least one vote in New Hampshire

For months, Gov. Bill Richardson has been in fourth place in New Hampshire polls, and two small communities whose residents voted in presidential primaries shortly after midnight place him in that position as voting in the rest of the state begins this morning.

With residents of the hamlet of Dixville Notch and town of Hart’s Location casting votes already, Barack Obama is leading with 16 votes to three votes apiece for Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. Richardson has one vote.

Obviously, that’s not a significant enough sample to give any clues about what’s going to happen today. Polls open at 4 a.m. Mountain Standard Time in most of the rest of the state, and the last polls close at 6 p.m. MST. We’ll start seeing results at about 5 p.m. New Mexico time or shortly thereafter.

The story is Obama. He’s surged since Thursday’s Iowa Caucus from being several points behind Clinton in New Hampshire to being several points ahead. Eleven new polls released Monday have Obama anywhere between one and 13 points ahead of Clinton, and the average is a 7.7-percent lead for Obama, according to Real Clear Politics.

Richardson’s average in the polls is a barely significant 5.9 percent.

The governor did make news on Monday for lashing out at the Clinton campaign. Asked again on FOX News if he made a deal with Obama in Iowa that helped the senator win, Richardson said there was no deal.

“You know, and it’s a lot of the Clinton people that are putting this out and I really resent it. It’s wrong,” he said. “I believe very strongly that this was a big vote for Obama because he brought a lot of new people in. That’s why he won and those people should stop trying to get scapegoats.”

You can watch the video by clicking here.

Regardless of what Richardson says, the Albuquerque Journal has found even more evidence that there was a deal between the governor and Obama. You can read about it by clicking here.

So the Clintons are apparently mad at Richardson, and he’s upset with them. It appears the fallout from this situation has yet to work itself out for the governor.

In the meantime, Obama appears likely to win New Hampshire tonight. On the Republican side, it’s a tossup between John McCain and Mitt Romney in the polls. I’ll have complete coverage throughout the evening.