It’s Election Day in New Hampshire, the voters are finally getting their say and the blizzard has mostly passed. By that, we mean the blizzard of political ads which have buried the state for months. As for the snow that some worried would impact today’s balloting, most of the state saw less than four inches of the white stuff.

This morning, our friends at the New Boston Post posted a series of columns offering a final plea for several of the leading candidates. Included below are the candidates polling in the top five in New Hampshire, and ordered according to how they are polling nationally.

Patrick J. Walsh Makes the Case for “Trump Without Apology”

As for one Donald J. Trump, Patrick Walsh laid out The Donald’s appeal in a column for New Boston Post last August titled “Trump Without Apology.”

He wrote, “Trump is attempting to do something that the American publican has not seen since Ronald Reagan: talk directly to the American people — over the media and over its criticism. It’s called democracy!” Tossing in references to Macbeth and James Fenimore Cooper, Walsh argued the GOP has not posed a serious challenge to progressivism since the end of the Reagan era. “The Republican party today stands and fights for nothing, but seems to apologize for everything.” Trump, he stated, is “trying to reverse this deteriorating situation.”

“It is a Herculean task, and like that ancient Greek hero, Trump has 12 labors to perform. Trump is in the process of cleaning out the Augean stables. His campaign is kicking up the dirt. It is a filthy job, but necessary, and if we are all to get a little dirty in the din, so be it. We can clean up later.

Trump entered Election Day in New Hampshire up by 17.2 in the RealClear Politics poll average. But how will Trump and the others, along with Carly Fiorina and Ben Carson, do now that the voters themselves are having their say? We should know in a matter of hours. Most polls in New Hampshire close at 7 p.m. Eastern time.

Rep. Jim Lyons Makes “The Case for Cruz”

Rep. Jim Lyons opens his argument for Ted Cruz with a question: “Is all that is needed to correct the excesses and bad decision-making of the last eight years a newly elected president who will make small adjustments and corrections? Someone who can make minor changes to the expansion of big government that President Barack Obama has implemented?” If that’s the case, he argues, you might as well flip a coin when going into the voting booth, since any of the Republicans would be an improvement. Lyons insists that is not enough. “The next president must do more than just temporarily stop the bleeding. He must do more than apply a bandage to a gaping wound. He must heal the festering, underlying problems.” And Ted Cruz is the only who can do it.

For Ted Cruz, slightly or a tiny bit isn’t good enough for the American people. He intends to reestablish a government that stands with the hard-working, taxpaying, American middle class citizenry. Ted Cruz wants nothing less than to work with us to revive, in the ringing words of Abraham Lincoln, “government of the people, for the people, by the people.”

“Ted Cruz,” he says, “has consistently demonstrated the courage to advocate limited government, simplified and reduced taxes, strong national security, and a free enterprise system that gives small family-owned businesses a fair shake.” He also lists as a benefit that Cruz “tends to rub Washington insiders and power-brokers the wrong way.”

Jennifer C. Braceras Makes “The Case for Rubio”

“Why am I for Rubio?” Jennifer C. Braceras asks, “It’s simple. He is the only candidate in the race with a positive, conservative vision for America, as well as the leadership skills necessary to unite our country and set it back on course.”

While admitting she wishes “he were a tad more gray and perhaps a tad more experienced,” Braceras asserts:

A Rubio presidency will reassert American leadership in the world.

A Rubio presidency will reinvigorate the American Dream.

A Rubio presidency will reaffirm traditional American values.

Braceras notes that, unlike Ted Cruz, Rubio is “personally optimistic” and “genuinely joyful.” And that will play well in the fall:

Only Rubio has the ability to sell ideological conservatism to the unconverted. The child of working class immigrants, fluent in Spanish, and filled with gratitude for America’s many blessings, Rubio has the ability to appeal to a broader audience and bring newcomers into the conservative fold.

Robert N. Driscoll makes “The Case for Bush”

For Robert N. Driscoll deciding who to support comes down to two things: substance and electability, and Jeb Bush meets both requirements … even if he is not “new and exciting.” Driscoll runs through Bush’s “proven record of achieving conservative goals” while governor of Florida. He notes Bush’s efforts in areas more likely to draw Democrats and Independents, for example, his success reforming Florida’s public education system. He also mentions the fact Bush is fluent in Spanish and was popular with Hispanics during his term.

Jeb Bush proves that you can be conservative without being harsh, strident, or lacking in compassion. He is moderate in tone, while advancing conservative policies. That combination provides the best chance for electoral success for Republicans.

Sen. Bruce Tarr Makes “The Case for Kasich”

Sen. Bruce Tarr makes almost the opposite case for John Kasich. “Governor Kasich is the only one to implement conservative solutions at the state level, in Ohio and in Washington,” writes Tarr, “He did it by working together with everyone, not tearing his opponents apart.”

Tarr focuses on Kasich’s experience in balancing budgets, both locally and federally. As House budget chairman Kasich became “the only person in the last 45 years to balance the federal budget.”

Why does Kasich put so much emphasis on the budget, when others are barely even mentioning it?

He knows two things the others do not:

— You cannot have a strong country with weak finances and expose us to trade and currency manipulation by other nations.

— You cannot have job growth with high taxes and overregulation and out-of-control government spending.

In other words, the budget affects everything.

According to today’s RealClear Politics New Hampshire poll average, Trump has 17-point lead on his nearest competitor, with the other four all clustered within a 2.5-point spread around the 12 percent mark.