2008 New Hampshire Primary

The 2008 New Hampshire Primary is history. Inevitably, the chattering classes will deconstruct the results and debate whether New Hampshire should keep its first-in-the-nation status. I'm biased, but I think the answer is Yes. We had a record turn-out of over 500,000 voters. We ignored the pundits and handed comeback victories to McCain and Clinton. We ignored Vermin Supreme. No, that's not my nickname for Mitt Romney. Vermin Supreme was an actual candidate on the Republican ballot.

One of the quieter successes was the way a group of amateur, New Hampshire photographers banded together to document the primary. The New Hampshire group on Flickr attended campaign events throughout the state and posted photos to the NH Primary Project. You can see a slide show of hundreds of these photos at the NH Photo Tour Blog or you can look for photos on Flickr tagged with "nhelection08".

Recently, New Hampshire Public Radio noticed all the activity on Flickr and commissioned some of us to visit the candidates' campaign headquarters on election night. The idea was to document the victory speeches, the concession speeches and the lesser known, uniquely New Hampshire moments, and post photos of all of the above to NHPR's web site.



NHPR dispatched me to McCain headquarters with my (ahem) colleagues from ABC, CBS and Fox News. It was standing-room-only. It was loud and crazy. It was lot's of fun. Considering I was at McCain's very first 2008 campaign appearance in New Hampshire last March, the victory celebration was very special for me. I felt like I had watched the whole story as it unfolded -- in person. I've collected all my campaign pictures in this Campaign 2008 Set. (You don't want to miss the photo of Vermin Supreme.)

In short, I am thrilled with the way Flickr enabled documentation and participation in the primary process. I commend NHPR for tapping into a pool of amateur photographers so they could provide a service to New Hampshire citizens. And I am sure there are lots of other examples of how organizations and individuals are pushing the New Hampshire Primary in new directions. It's not your father's New Hampshire Primary. It's an ever-changing process powered by serious and passionate people. Maybe that's the best reason for keeping it first-in-the-nation.

P.S. NHPR hasn't posted all of the election night photos yet. When they do, I will post a link.
 

Memorial Day

The New Hampshire and New York columns of the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. The Washington Monument is in the background.

The World War II Memorial was dedicated in May 2004. It honors "the 16 million who served in the armed forces of the U.S., the more than 400,000 who died, and all who supported the war effort from home." It is a beautiful memorial and a "fitting and proper" tribute to those who served, but sometimes I fear we miss the point.

As Abraham Lincoln said in another time:

"It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate—we can not consecrate—we can not hallow—this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled ... have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract ... It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought [have] so nobly advanced."

From the Milford Oval to the Oval Office

If you are a regular listener of NPR's All Things Considered, you'll be hearing about Milford, NH for the next several months. As part of their presidential primary coverage, the show's producers decided to focus on one town in New Hampshire. And they've decided to focus on Milford. As reported in the first segment on March 22:

In many ways, Milford is emblematic of New Hampshire: It traditionally votes Republican, but has many independent voters, or "undeclared voters," as they're called in New Hampshire. Milford voted for George W. Bush in the general election in 2004 and 2000; it went for Bill Clinton in 1996 and for George H.W. Bush in 1992.

Check out the link above for the full story.
 

A Big Surprise

Once in a while,
I'm standing here, doing something.
And I think,
"What in the world am I doing here?"
It's a big surprise.

-- Donald Rumsfeld

For more of Donald Rumsfeld's poetry, see Hart Seely's article at Slate.com.
 

Vast Centrist Conspiracy

We have been listening to the thunder of partisan politics for so long, it can be difficult to hear the moderates speak. Is it just me, or are the moderate voices getting louder? Here are just a few I've heard lately:

• Lou Dobbs on why the middle class needs to fight the politics of polarization.
   
• James Baker (R) and Lee Hamilton (D) chair a bi-partisan panel looking for alternatives to resolving the war in Iraq.
   
• John Danforth (R) on saving the Republican Party from right wing conservatives.
   
• Sam Harris (D) on saving the Democratic Party from head-in-the-sand liberals.

I'm sure there are others too who want to replace all the talk about wedge issues with serious, civil discourse on the important issues of the day. The question is will their voices be heard?

I'm afraid both major parties have already nominated candidates from the fringes. It may be too late to inject reason into the mid-term elections, but I'm hoping for a vast centrist conspiracy to take hold in 2008.