New Hampshire shaping up big for November

Published Sep 19 2008, 02:46 PM by Ian Donnis

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Back in the Democratic primary, we Rhode Islanders got a taste of what it feels like to have presidential candidates marching, a la New Hampshire primary, to our little state. And now, with a shrinking number of presidential battlegrounds, New Hampshire remains in play -- as evidenced by all the Obama and McCain commercials being broadcast on NESN.

Matt writes about it in this week's Phoenix:

The eight states to be targeted most intensely with resources are the traditional industrial states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Michigan; the Western states of Colorado, New Mexico, and Nevada; and finally, Virginia and New Hampshire.

Rhode Island Democratic activists have “adopted” New Hampshire as their second home, perhaps realizing that those four Electoral College votes gave the 2000 election to George W. Bush.

This past weekend, US Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (whose chief of staff, Mindy Myers, is Obama’s New Hampshire state coordinator) led two buses to the Granite State to track down and talk with undecided voters.

The Phoenix's David S. Bernstein also takes up the topic:

There is no big secret to the gush of interest in the Granite State, which has affixed itself to the short list of presidential battlegrounds. Had Al Gore received just 7000 more votes in New Hampshire eight years ago, he would have received the state’s four electoral votes — and there would have been no President George W. Bush. ....
Democrats, meanwhile, have their own secret weapon to boost turnout: young people.

Voters under age 30 made up a record 16 percent of the New Hampshire primary vote this year (despite the election being held during winter break), up from 14 percent in 2004 and 11 percent in 2000, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University.

Those voters are skewing almost two-to-one for Obama in polls; the higher their share of the total vote in November, the better for Obama. With the school year just kicking off, college political organizations are fervently registering students to vote — and in particular, encouraging them to switch their registration from their home states to New Hampshire. If they vote in large enough numbers, they could easily tip the Granite State for Obama — and that, in turn, could be what puts him in the White House.