First in the Nation Primary

by Aaron Dupuis

The New Hampshire Primary has been important for decades.

Dr. Robin Marra, a Political Science Professor was talking about the New Hampshire Primary on the bus heading back to school from Governor Mitt Romney’s headquarters. He then went on and quoted then Governor John Sununu about what he said about the First in the Nation Primary, “Iowa picks corn, New Hampshire picks Presidents.”

Dr. Marra then went on and said that is not entirely true, he said “in 1992, the New Hampshire Primary was pretty much in the bag for Paul                   Tsongas, but what was important was who was going to come in second. Everyone said that with everything that was going against Clinton, major political pundits were saying that he was going to drop out before the primary. That didn’t happen and he made multiple stops to New Hampshire and in the end, the voters looked past the possibility of an affair and draft dodging and he came in second, that was then he called himself the comeback kid which brought him into the nomination.”

The New Hampshire has always been filled with surprises, especially when Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) won the New Hampshire Primary but unfortunately not winning the 2008 Democratic Nomination for President, what people find the most fascinating here is the concept of “retail politics” that people here have the ability to actually talk with the candidates and meet with them more then once. That they will go door to door, they will hold meetings in people’s living rooms and other places.

“Iowa, is more morally viewed, like in the 2012 Republican Presidential Primary, where evangelicals were the deciding factor on who won the caucus” said Marra, who went to Iowa in 2008 with students to cover the Caucus. The New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner, had a law passed where the New Hampshire Primary is to be held seven days ahead of a similar contest.