Primary response: Threats continue to arise to the state’s first-in-the-nation primary status
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Once again, the fate of the state’s first-in-the-nation primary status is being threatened, this time on two fronts.
Those who pay attention to such things know having the first presidential primary every four years means far more to the state than prestige. It’s an economic driver that brings millions of dollars to the economy every fourth fall and winter.
The benefit to the rest of the nation, the argument goes, is that Granite State voters are sophisticated and demanding — that we won’t vote for a candidate unwilling to leave the stage and interact, someone whose hand we can shake and whose eyes we can meet. Thus, New Hampshire serves as a vetting ground for the entire nation, requiring retail politicking, not just sound bites and radio ads.