OK, it's not fair. We know that.
For more than a year, presidential candidates prowl all over this small state begging people to pay attention to them. When friends came to visit for a week in the summer of 2003, we took them to see Kucinich and Gephardt, and even got one of them onto C-SPAN asking John Kerry a question. It wasn't a special week; it was just summer in New Hampshire. This time around the Republicans have a contest too, so the density of candidates should be even higher.
It's not fair. But somebody has to vet these candidates and whittle them down to a manageable number. If it's not the voters of New Hampshire (or some other small state), it will be the big-money donors and the media pundits. Because nobody who hasn't been anointed by those two can afford to run a campaign in a big state.
Here in New Hampshire, we take our job seriously. We get out early, we see candidates with our own eyes, and we try to ask the hard questions that the rest of you would ask if you had the access. It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.
Here's how I've been doing it so far:
Hillary Clinton at the 100 Club Dinner in Nashua -- 3-10 -2007
Bill Richardson in Portsmouth – 2-17-2007
Announcing My 2008 Presidential Campaign
Reports from the 2004 New Hampshire Primary campaign
All Doug Muder's political articles.