 Insiders' Guide to New Hampshire Nancy Elcock, Sally Wilkins Copyright © 1999 All rights reserved. Adult Published Hard Cover Published by other Soft Cover Published by other 519 pages ISBN 1573800945 $15.95 Click here to buy this book. Read an Excerpt Although not updated since 1999, this book continues to be a terrific resource about the Granite State. Let us introduce you to New Hampshire. This small yet stalwart state stands strong as a pillar of granite (the rock that led to the state nickname) in the middle of New England. First, let’s establish exactly where it is. New Hampshire is the only state that touches Maine, with an arrow-straight north-south border stretching from Canada to New Hampshire’s short-but-splendid Atlantic coast. Massachusetts is due south, and New Hampshire’s top tip tickles the southeast border of Quebec. To the west, the sinuous Connecticut River forms a borderline hypotenuse between New Hampshire and the neighbor you may have it confused with: Vermont. Concord is the capital, and its bigger cities include Nashua, Salem, Manchester and Portsmouth. New Hampshire is steeped in Colonial history, having been around when the country was still in the cradle. People in New Hampshire celebrated the Declaration of Independence in the same cities, towns, buildings, pubs and streets that visitors flock to by the thousands today. The Industrial Revolution saw cities in the Merrimack Valley such as Manchester and Milford turn into chugging regional centers of manufacturing. The Seacoast Region was already becoming a haven for travelers in the early 19th century. In 1911, 780,000 acres — most of the northern third of the state — was set aside as White Mountain National Forest. Today, the entire state is a paradise for visitors and prospective new residents. Along with the heaping helping of history, there’s jaw-dropping natural splendor and recreational opportunities to be found among the 1,300 lakes scattered across the state and the rugged White Mountains to the north. Dartmouth College, the Ivy League school in Hanover near the Vermont border, makes the Lake Sunapee region an educational and cultural destination. The southern sector of the state remains the most economically diverse. There are considerable business interests, and the area continues to grow as a Boston bedroom community with Interstate 93 funneling thousands of commuters out of New Hampshire and into Massachusetts each morning. If you’re looking for the complete story on the state that’s been home for an eclectic mix of Americans including Space Shuttle Challenger hero Christa McAuliffe, devil-dueling Daniel Webster, literary titan J.D. Salinger, virtually anonymous 14th President Franklin Pierce and Christian Science guru Mary Baker Eddy, you have come to the right place: The Insiders’ Guide® to New Hampshire, the book's second edition. Written by local authors, it’s simply the most in-depth source of information you will find on the entire state. Splitting New Hampshire into six distinct geographical regions, the full print version of the guide offers individual chapters on accommodations (including the many glorious bed and breakfast inns), skiing and winter sports, shopping, restaurants, attractions, parks and forests, the arts scene, kidstuff, retirement and much more. So get set to say hello to the best of New Hampshire. Excerpt The Primary: First in the Nation The joke (and it’s an old one) goes like this: The ambitious young reporter, trying to find a new angle on the New Hampshire primary, goes out into the country to interview a “real Yankee.” On the outskirts of a small town he finds a farmer in the barn, milking a cow. “Excuse me, sir,” he says. “Could you tell me which candidate you’ll be voting for this year?” The farmer stands up, pushes back his hat and ponders. “Dunno,” he says, finally. “I haven’t met them all, yet.” Things change. In the last election, between the two of us we only met three presidential candidates. But the fact that we met any at all explains part of why New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary has such an appeal and such a high “predictor” value. New Hampshire has held a presidential primary in every election year since 1916. Since 1920, when Minnesota dropped its primary, New Hampshire’s has been first in the nation. In 1952 the candidate’s names were added to the ballot (before that only the delegates were listed). Since then, except for 1992, no one has ever won the White House without first winning the New Hampshire primary. (In 1992 our next-door neighbor and economic straight-shooter the late Massachusetts Senator Paul Tsongas won the Democratic primary. Bill Clinton was a close second.) New Hampshire law dictates that the date of the New Hampshire primary shall be the first Tuesday in February of a presidential election year or one week before any similar election in another state. (Iowa’s caucus, not being a popular election, doesn’t count.) As a consequence, every four years the circus comes to town. For months there’s a candidate behind every bush — or at least in every diner and barbershop. As winter closes in, the national and international media arrive en masse, mobile broadcast booths and satellite dishes in tow. Small towns whose representatives never bother to visit them hold coffees where generals and ambassadors discuss the national debt with farmers and housewives. It’s an economic boon and a traffic nightmare. News anchors from New York and political operatives from Houston stomp around in the snow, interviewing each other because there are more of them than of us. School children ask questions of senators, and snowbanks bristle with signs. Obscure candidates run 30-minute mini-documentaries on television, and pollsters call at dinner time (sometimes two or three times a week). In recent years there have been many objections raised to the influence that being first gives New Hampshire. We’re not representative of the country, they say. We’re a small media market. We’re more homogeneous than much of the country. It gives a tiny number of voters a disproportionate amount of power. To which New Hampshire retorts, “Damn straight.” It’s because we are small that retail politics are still the rule here. It is (relatively) inexpensive to run a campaign in New Hampshire. Anyone can run for President here (and sometimes it seems like everyone does). In 1992 (the last election without an incumbent in either major party), there were more than 40 names on the ballot. New Hampshire voters are sophisticated and politically savvy and still judge candidates more on the content of their messages than their style or their sound bites. So a relative unknown (like Jimmy “Who?” Carter) with a solid idea and the energy to get the message out has a chance to be heard in New Hampshire and to pick up momentum. And a big name with little behind it but money may be sent packing, faux fur hat in hand. No, we’re not immune to the influences of modern political marketing. The changing media picture and our increasingly large population, including many transplants, is changing the political atmosphere even in New Hampshire. But we take our responsibility seriously. We listen to candidates. We examine their literature. We demand that they actually say something meaningful. And we don’t talk to pollsters (or when we do, we hedge). So our vote on primary day rings loud and clear. It’s our contribution to the process and our claim to fame. It’s the First in the Nation. We love it. |
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