DOVER, N.H. — Senator John McCain had the state of New Hampshire to himself on Saturday, a day when he received yet another endorsement, this time by the Concord Monitor, which only a week ago ran a devastating editorial condemning his opponent for the Republican nomination, Mitt Romney, as a “phony.”

At his first stop this morning, in the town of Dover on the seacoast, the crowd of several hundred poured out the door of the basement of the Greek Orthodox Church where Mr. McCain spent more than an hour.

After being introduced by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, from Minnesota, Mr. McCain focused his opening remarks on the unique process in this state and, in a not-so-veiled reference to Mr. Romney, said, “You can’t buy an election in the state of New Hampshire.”