Day 29: New Hampshire

[minionofmidas]

New Hampshire is an... odd... state. Very, very odd. There seems to be a reaction from traditional areas against the incomers fleeing the Boston burbs;

The funny part is that oldtimers and incomers are to be found on both sides of the partisan divide...and your statement is true nonetheless.

[minionofmidas]

To clarify - Connecticut River Valley; heavy influence of college towns, also been retreat of "liberal elites" for ages (Salinger lives there somewhere...so does John Irving...so does...oh well you get the point.) Nonetheless probably quite a few depressed old industrial towns in between. Votes Democratic. Coastal areas are probably similar.
Manchester/Nashua area. Fast growing, more residents born in Massachusetts than New Hampshire. Votes Republican.
And similarly there's more traditional areas voting Rep...and others voting Dem.

I should add that the state has one of the weirdest state houses in the Union, with just a couple thousand voters per constituency.

[minionofmidas]

Didn't know that; thanks Kevin.

[minionofmidas]

I get the feeling that New Hampshire is to Massachusetts what Connecticut is to New York.  A lot of people move there (From NY to CT and from MA to NH) when in their 40s and 50s, but still work in their old state and retain their old state's values and voting patterns.

Not at all. Boston's NH exurbs vote solidly though not overwhelmingly Republican. (If you wonder where Massachusetts' Republican minority that until ten years ago elected the odd congressman went - they moved the New Hampshire. Vermont is more liberal than NH because it's had fewer immigrants than NH, not more. So much for the stronghold of traditional libertarianism theory...)