It’s presidential primary season and for the past month I’ve been listening to a fascinating podcast called Stranglehold, a podcast that explores how New Hampshire came to have the first-in-the-nation presidential primary and how it developed a “stranglehold” on it.
Stranglehold is a weekly podcast produced by New Hampshire Public Radio that grapples with two questions: First, why does a state with a population of 1.356 million people, 90 percent of whom are white, always gets to vote first in the presidential election cycle? And second, is it fair for New Hampshire to continue its tradition of voting first when the state is not truly representative of the demography of the United States?
The Stranglehold hosts begin their quest for answers by setting the context of the New Hampshire Primary. In Episode 1 “The Guardian,” the hosts take listeners through the history of how New Hampshire came to have the first-in-the-nation primary (the tradition started in 1920) and how and why NH Secretary of State Bill Gardner continues to set the date of the primary well ahead of other states (the 2020 primary will be held on February 11). With this context in place, Stranglehold explores many facets of what it means for New Hampshire to have the first-in-the-nation primary, whether the arguments of a small state with “an engaged electorate” makes New Hampshire the only state where candidates can engage in “retail” or person-to-person politics, and whether “dark-horse” candidates would have a shot at being president if it weren’t for those retail politics.
I came to listen to Stranglehold because I’ve been fascinated with the New Hampshire Primary for as long as I can remember and, since 2004, I’ve been grappling with the very questions Stranglehold dares to ask: Why is it that a state with such a small and white population gets to vote first? Why is it that bigger states with larger, more diverse populations don’t get as much of a say in who gets to be president?
In some ways these are radical questions for me to ask because I grew up in New Hampshire and with its first-in-the-nation primary.
My education in the New Hampshire Primary and why it’s important began in 1988, when I was 6. I don’t remember attending any campaign events during the 1988 primary, but I do remember my Dad taking me into a voting booth before school so we could vote for Michael Dukakis. I also remember my teacher talking about the primary. She told us New Hampshire is a very special place and that it is important for New Hampshire voters to vote first. As Granite Staters it was our job to serve the nation by taking the time to meet the candidates so that we could let the rest of the United States know which candidates we thought would make the best presidents.
This basic lesson in why New Hampshire should be the first state to vote in the presidential election cycle continued and intensified as I got older. In 1992, my fourth grade teacher told my class New Hampshire had to have the first-in-the nation primary because with just over a million people, presidential candidates could come to our state and meet voters in a way they just couldn’t meet them in larger states. But with this awesome opportunity, came an awesome responsibility: The rest of the nation expected us Granite Staters to become informed about the issues that were important to our families, communities, and country so that we could go out and ask the candidates tough questions about where they stood on those issues when they came to our homes, schools, town halls, diners, and sporting events. To prove this point, my teacher assigned each of us the task of attending at least one candidate event and asking at least one question.
My Dad took my 1992-primary assignment seriously. As President George H.W. Bush was running for re-election, we attended many events for Democrats. We went to hear from Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa and Senator Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts. We also went to hear this candidate my Dad was curious about because everyone seemed curious about him, a little-known dark-horse candidate from Arkansas named Bill Clinton.
Bill and Hillary Clinton spoke in my local Town Hall (an early 20th-century grange building located in the center of town). There were a lot of people in attendance and yet somehow, I raised my hand and Governor Clinton took my question. I asked about his plans for the environment and how he might limit the CFCs (Choloroflourocarbons) being released into the air. After the event, I shook the hands of both Clintons and Bill signed a campaign poster for me. (This poster started my collection of campaign posters signed by presidents.)
The tradition of going out to meet the candidates with my Dad continued. In 1996, my Dad and I went to hear several Republican candidates. I recall attending events for Senator Bob Dole of Kansas and Steve Forbes of New York. My mom and I went to hear Lamar Alexander of Tennessee.
After the 1996 primary, my education about my civic duty as a New Hampshire voter intensified again because beginning in 2000, my classmates and I would be able to vote in the New Hampshire Primary.
In high school, teachers required students to write “issues papers.” Each quarter our teachers assigned a law, a situation of foreign or domestic policy, or some other current event that my classmates and I had to research and write a 10-15 page paper about. These papers had to include a conservative point of view, a liberal point of view, a moderate point of view, and conclude with a well-reasoned statement of where we stood on the assigned issue. The point of these papers was not only to help us become well informed about current events and their history, but also to inculcate the lesson that before we vote, we need to know what issues are important to us, where we stand on those issues, and research where candidates stand on those issues so that we can vote for the candidate that best represents our point of view. These papers reminded us that voting should be about issues, not political party.
In this regard, many of the stories told in Stranglehold reflect the experiences and education of my youth. Throughout episodes, the Stranglehold team finds that many Granite Staters still justify New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary by relating how the state’s small size and engaged population means candidates can really meet voters and voters can really get to know candidates. Episodes also reveal that Granite Staters still feel they perform a valuable service to the nation by getting to know the candidates and indicating which candidates they think will make the best presidents.
Where Stranglehold really shines though, is in the ways it explores how people outside of the Granite State question the fairness of the New Hampshire Primary.
My favorite episode thus far is Episode 12 “The Outsiders.” This episode explores what it was like for a group of students from Virginia Commonwealth University to visit New Hampshire in January 2020 to experience the first-in-the-nation primary.
As someone who grew up with the New Hampshire Primary, it was fascinating to hear how those who have not experienced it viewed the primary when they came face-to-face with it. The students expressed excitement over meeting and volunteering for the candidates and asking questions of them. They talked about how they had benefitted from the experience with offers of campaign internships when they returned to Virginia. They also shared their frustrations with New Hampshire’s privilege and lack of diversity.
Episode 12 acknowledges how New Hampshire is 90 percent white and how it is a state where people like the New Hampshire Secretary of State refer to African Americans as “the blacks” and few Granite Staters think of that reference as wrong or unusual. In fact, the NHPR reporters hosting Stranglehold admitted that they’ve heard Secretary of State Gardner use that term several times and never thought twice about it. This is what happens in a state where 90 percent of its population is white. Issues of diversity rarely come up and when they do come up there is a limited understanding of the history and origins of diversity and race-related issues.
The VCU students also noted how they didn’t think it was fair for New Hampshire to always have the first in-the-nation primary. They noted their jealousy and how the people of New Hampshire benefit from the primary and the chance to know the candidates. (How Granite Staters have benefitted from the primary was also the topic of Episode 10: “The Moldy Cookie.”) The students’ comments and reactions made me think about how I’ve benefitted from the New Hampshire Primary.
When the 2000 primary came, I had earned the honor of inviting all of the candidates to speak at my high school. It was a great experience. I talked about the environment with Vice President Al Gore, baseball with Governor George W. Bush, and history with Senator John McCain. I won $20 from Gary Bauer who bet that no one in my high school could recite the preamble of the Declaration of Independence from memory. But aside from this fun, I also had a chance to talk more formally with these candidates about where they stood on important issues such as education.
Moreover, it is safe to say I've benefited immensely as a citizen from having grown up with the New Hampshire primary. By the time I left for college, I had met several senators, governors, a Vice President, a First Lady, and two Presidents. Over four election cycles, I learned how to be an engaged and informed voter and how to be active in the politics of the United States. I also learned that my vote matters and that it is good to seek out discussions with people who have different ideas from your own so you can learn from and come to understand each other.
At the same time, the time I’ve spent living in Pennsylvania, California, New York, Massachusetts, and part-time in Virginia has led to me to become ambivalent about the New Hampshire Primary.
I agree with the VCU students’ frustration over how much attention presidential candidates give to New Hampshire voters. As someone who has now lived in large and populous states like California and New York, it seems unfair that candidates spend most of their time and energy catering to the large cities in those states and introducing themselves to voters outside of those large cities only in television and radio ads. As a Bay Stater, I’m incredibly frustrated that the only candidates who ever come to Massachusetts are Democrats who need to raise money. They all come to Boston where they host very expensive dinners that place in-person contact beyond the reach of those of us who aren’t wealthy.
In so many ways, I miss the "retail” and personal politics I grew up with in New Hampshire. I came away from my youthful experiences believing candidates should take the time to meet with and really discuss their views with voters.
But even as I share Americans’ frustrations with the time and energy candidates put into the New Hampshire Primary, I disagree with the argument that pops up in Stranglehold: the idea that bigger and more diverse states would enjoy the same kind of in-person political experience New Hampshire does if they hosted the first-in-the-nation primary. At this point, I don't think it’s logistically feasible for populous states like California, Virginia, and New York to experience the same kind of retail and personal politics discussed in Stranglehold without lengthening the presidential election cycle so that it plays out over several years. Further, it seems from Stranglehold that the way candidates conduct their campaigns is changing and moving away from the retail politics New Hampshire has claimed as vital to the process.
While some candidates still prefer to follow Jimmy Carter’s 1976-personal politics playbook (see Episode 2 “The Dragon Egg”), others prefer the the big rally style of the present age, which because of their size allow candidates to sidestep and not fully answer voters’ questions (see Episode 6: “Manipulate the Manipulation” and Episode 11: “The Long Shot”). These Stranglehold episodes have me wondering whether retail and personal politics will continue in New Hampshire and Iowa. And if they don’t continue, will Granite Staters and presidential hopefuls continue to care about New Hampshire being first in the nation to hold a presidential primary?
I think the answer lies in a topic Stranglehold has yet to investigate (and one I hope they do investigate): The economics of the first-in-the-nation primary.
According to a study published in The Washington Post, candidates will spend roughly $57 million in New Hampshire during a presidential primary. In a state with no income or sales tax that’s HUGE. How do candidates spend this money? It’s not all on campaign ads. For example, think of all the nights the candidates, their staffs, members of the media, and primary tourists spend in New Hampshire hotels and how many meals they consume in New Hampshire restaurants over the course of a primary season. Think of how much money this brings to the state government as New Hampshire compensates for its lack of income and sales tax, in part, with a 9-percent room and meals tax. Local print shops also see a boost in business as all of the candidates need swag to advertise their candidacy. Many candidates will also rent buses and cars as they criss-cross the Granite State from one campaign event to another. The first-in-the-nation primary offers New Hampshire a significant financial windfall every four years.
Aside from some audio leveling and compression issues between the hosts and their in-the-field and historic recordings, I’m really enjoying Stranglehold and its interrogation of the New Hampshire Primary. I’m very curious to hear what conclusions the NHPR staff will draw from their work when the podcast ends. Personally, I’ve found that while the podcast has not helped clear up my ambivalence toward the New Hampshire Primary, it has helped me gain a better perspective on it. Through Stranglehold I’ve learned how the primary has changed since I left the state in 2000, how those who don’t live and grow up with the primary view it, and why some of the traditions Granite Staters treasure have evolved the ways they have.
Overall, Stranglehold is a podcast that will appeal to anyone who is interested in presidential primaries and American politics. Those who live in New Hampshire will gain a better understanding about their state’s history with the primary and why those who live outside of the Granite State question this tradition. And those who live outside New Hampshire will gain insight about the Granite State and what is like to experience and participate in the first-in-the-nation primary.
N.B.: If you’re a primary junkie like me, you might also like to know about another podcast I’m listening to called Caucus Land. Produced by Iowa Public Radio, this podcast explores the Iowa Caucus, its first-in-the-nation status, and the 2020 candidates and their platforms.