Half the population of the state live in the two southernmost counties, which are simply Boston Exurbhell.
The rest of the state has the same "ancestrally Republican but wouldn't touch what's become of that" mindset as Vermont (a state that has had far less inmigration) but doesn't vote as Democratically yet. Look at swing maps over the past few cycles. (Coos County in the far north is different again, and more like the frenchie bits of Maine.)
Unlike Vermont, the New Hampshire GOP, along with the state as a whole, was historically as conservative as any Western or Southern state.
New Hampshire was more Republican than Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Alabama, and the Dakotas in the 80s.
As recently as 1996, the New Hampshire primary gave an upset win to archconservative Patrick J. Buchanan over 'moderate' front-runner Bob Dole.
Plus the state was represented until 2003 by Senator Robert C. Smith, who survived the 1996 Clinton sweep and now writes editorials for the Constitution Party...