SALON

Tuesday, Jan 10, 2012 7:27 AM UTC

NH Primary Voters Demand Face Time With Candidates

By

Topics: From the Wires,

NH Primary Voters Demand Face Time With CandidatesPeter Johnson, left, and Rick Erwin set up a booth for the scheduled first-in-the-nation presidential primary vote, at The Balsams Grand Resort, Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in Dixville, N.H. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)(Credit: AP)

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — For 60 years, New Hampshire has jealously guarded the right to hold the earliest presidential primary, fending off bigger states that claimed that the small New England state was too white to represent the nation’s diverse population.

In its defense, New Hampshire jokingly brags that its voters won’t pick a presidential candidate until they’ve met at least three times face-to-face — rather than seeing the person in television ads or at large events typical of bigger states. New Hampshire voters expect to shake hands with candidates at coffees that supporters host in their homes or at backyard barbecues.

That tradition paid off in 1976 for a little-known peanut farmer and former Georgia governor. Jimmy Carter won in New Hampshire and went on to become president.

New Hampshire established its primary in 1916 to pick delegates to the national nominating conventions, but no candidates came to campaign. That all changed in 1952, when the primary became a launching pad for candidates seeking the White House.

For years, no one who lost a New Hampshire primary won the presidency — until Bill Clinton lost in 1992. George W. Bush lost in 2000 and Barack Obama lost in 2008.

Sometimes a New Hampshire loser can turn a loss into a victory. Clinton’s second-place finish after trailing badly in the polls earned him the label as the “comeback kid.” In 1968, Sen. Eugene McCarthy’s strong second-place finish helped galvanize opposition to the Vietnam War and push President Lyndon Johnson from the race.

By law, New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner must set the primary at least seven days ahead of all similar contests regardless of dates selected by the national parties. As other states have moved up their contests, New Hampshire has countered by holding its primary earlier and earlier.

This year, Gardner threatened to set a December 2011 date if Nevada insisted on holding its caucuses Jan. 14. Nevada decided to hold them in February, and Gardner set New Hampshire’s date on Jan. 10, making it the earliest primary. Iowa’s caucuses took place Jan. 3.

Primaries are statewide elections in which voters cast ballots at the polls, while caucuses are party meetings in which registered voters gather to discuss candidates and select delegates.

New Hampshire primary supporters argue that the state is small enough — about 1.3 million people — to give voters a chance to meet candidates and ask questions. New Hampshire prides itself on its government being close to the people with a 400-member House, which will be one representative for every 3,291 people when new districts are drawn next year.

Though almost 94 percent of the population is white, the number of immigrants settling in the state is gradually changing that demographic.

Also changing is the state’s once rock-solid Republican majority. The 312,621 undeclared voters now outnumber both registered Democrats (223,151) and Republicans (231,611).

In general elections, Democrat Barack Obama won the state in 2008 and Democrat John Kerry edged Bush in 2004. Many political pundits place New Hampshire and its four electoral votes in the purple column — states up for grabs.

More Norma Love.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments are not enabled for this story.

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Paul Krugman’s right: Austerity kills. "In an economy where we’re all in the same boat, one person’s spending is another person’s income. So when the government cuts spending, it reduces people’s income, leading to less business, more unemployment, and a vicious spiral of slowing down the economy."
281 points282 points | 248 comments
vote
FBI reportedly joins Bachmann campaign finance probe
250 points251 points | 20 comments
vote
Jon Karl makes things worse: He regrets “inaccurate” Benghazi email but says his story based on it “still entirely stands.” Really. ABC News?
217 points218 points | 31 comments
vote
“Jodorowsky’s Dune”: The sci-fi classic that never was.
80 points81 points | 16 comments
vote
Austerity Kills: Brian McArdle, a 57-year-old man who had had two strokes and could barely walk, was found "fit for work" by a government subcontractor, and had his benefits stopped. He died the next day.
85 points86 points | 8 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations