The tiny New Hampshire towns of Dixville Notch and Hart’s Location have a tradition of opening and closing their polls right at midnight. They can do this because of the small size of their town and a rule that says a town’s polls may be closed once every possible voter has cast a ballot.
After those first two towns have cast ballots…
John McCain - 10 votes (43%)
Mike Huckabee - 5 votes (22%)
Ron Paul - 4 votes (17%)
Mitt Romney - 3 votes (13%)
Rudy Giuliani - 1 vote (4%)
Among the Democrats…
Barack Obama - 16 votes (70%)
Hillary Clinton - 3 votes (13%)
John Edwards - 3 votes (13%)
Bill Richardson - 1 vote (4%)
These towns aren’t always the best measure of statewide success. In 2000, Hart’s Location voted for George W. Bush and in 2004, Wesley Clark got the most Democratic primary votes in both Hart’s Location and Dixville Notch.
Mitt Romney has been rumored to be on the rebound in the last 2-3 days, and polls have him dead even with John McCain. But on the Democrat side, Barack Obama is rapidly pulling ahead of Hillary Clinton and most expect that the contest between them won’t be very close.
If McCain wins New Hampshire, conservative columnists (including Robert Novak) have suggested he will become the new national front-runner for the Republican nomination.
If Romney wins today, it’s likely that the McCain-Romney duel will continue right on to next week in Michigan… a state that McCain won in 2000, but where Mitt Romney’s father served as governor.
Leave a Reply