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The New Hampshire primary to the U.S. presidential election is the first U.S. presidential primary in the United States. For more than 50 years it has been highly influential in both predictions and decisions about who will be the presidential nominee of the two major U.S. political parties.
Since 1977, New Hampshire law has stated that its primary is to be the first in the nation. As a result, the state has had to move its primary, originally in March, earlier in the year to remain the first. For example, the election was held on February 20 in 1996, then February 1 in 2000, and January 27 in 2004 to compete with earlier and earlier primaries in other states.
Before the less-binding Iowa caucus first received national attention in the 1970s, the New Hampshire primary was the first binding indication of which presidential candidate would receive his political party's nomination. In defense of their primary, voters of New Hampshire have tended to downplay the importance of the Iowa caucus. "The people of Iowa pick corn, the people of New Hampshire pick presidents," said then-Gov. John H. Sununu in 19881988 is a leap year starting on Friday (click on link for calendar). Events January January 2 Georgia celebrates its bicentennial statehood. January 9 Connecticut celebrates its bicentennial statehood. January 26 Australia celebrates its bicentennial day..
Since then, the primary has been considered an early measurement of the national attitude toward the candidates for nomination. Unlike a caucusA caucus is most generally defined as being a meeting of supporters or members of a political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries. In the United States, a caucus is a meeting of local members of a political party or, the primaryOrdinal adjectives: Primary "first", first hand. Secondary "second", second hand. Tertiary "third", third hand. In organic chemistry: Primary : functional group attatched to carbon atom connected to 1 or no other Carbon atoms Secondary functional group at measures the number of votes each candidate received directly, rather than through precinct delegates. The fact that the primary is based on the popular vote means that it gives less well known candidates a chance to pull ahead. Unlike most other states, New Hampshire permits independents, not just party members, to vote in a party's primary.
New Hampshire's status as the first-in-the-nation is somewhat controversial because some consider it not to be representative of the nation as a whole. It is predominantly white (96% versus 75% nationally in 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau), and largely rural and agricultural. Politically however, the state does offer a wide sampling of different types of voters. Although it is a New England state, it is not as liberalIn terms of politics, the word liberal (or Liberal can refer to: an adherent of the ideology of liberalism or something in accordance to this ideology. Note: the words "liberal" or "liberalism" can be different in various countries and can be related to t as some of its neighbors, (e.g. MassachusettsMassachusetts is a state of the United States of America, part of the New England region. postal abbreviation is MA and its traditional abbreviation is Mass . It is properly called the Commonwealth of Massachusetts although there is no legal distinction b). For example, according to one exit poll, of those who participated in the 2004 Democratic Primary, 4 in 10 voters were independents, and just over 50% said they considered themselves "liberal." Additionally, as of 2002, 25.6% of New Hampshire residents are registered Democrats and 36.7% are Republicans, with 37.7% of New Hampshire voters registered as "undeclared" independents. This plurality of independents is a major reason why New Hampshire is considered a swing state in general U.S. presidential elections.Recently, media expectations for the New Hampshire primary have come to be almost as important as the results themselves; meeting or beating expectations can provide a candidate with national attention, often leading to an infusion of donations to a campaign that has spent most of its reserves. For example, in 1992, Bill Clinton, although he did not win, did surprisingly well, with his team dubbing him the "Comeback Kid"; the extra media attention helped drive him to victory in later primaries.