The state went for Bush in 2000 and damned near provided a red slick in an otherwise blue ocean this time. I seem to recall that they like to do their own thing in primaries too.
So what is it with these guys? Are they born with a particuarly contrary nature? Or do they attract contrarians from other states, drawn by the state’s reputation?Do they want to dissociate themselves from Boston toffs?
What gives?
Well, I’m hardly an expert on New Hampshire, but the way I’ve rationalized it to myself is that they are the “Live Free or Die” state. I would suspect that Libertarians are popular there, but being rational, a lot citizens break for the mainstream “equivolent”: the Republicans.
At the same time, they are intellectual, progressive, and (I would suspect) less religious than middle-America, causing many of them to break for the Democrats.
This is just my (semi)-educated guess, and I’m sure a native or someone with more knowledge of the state can clear things up more.
The whole of northern New England used to be solidly Republican/conservative, but NH has simply been the last holdout in a demographic shift. The southern tier of NH has become suburban Boston, at an increasingly-rapid rate, as people who work in MA go further afield to find affordable housing. That segment of the population has inevitably become increasingly powerful in NH politics, as the hard-conservative wing once typified by the Manchester Union-Leader has softened since its longtime editor’s death.
Southern Maine is also increasingly part of suburban Boston, enough to tip the state from a tossup to fairly-safe Democratic. Vermont has received an influx of big-city types from Boston and NYC looking for a rustic lifestyle (with all the services of a city), and Burlington has long been a haven for granola-crunchers anyway.
Elvis nailed it.
It’s very sad, but inevitable that this day has come. NH has been invaded by liberals from MA.
I just made an offer today on some land in Southern NH. If the deal goes through, then I’ll be voting in NH next election. I don’t vote democrat, but the other thousands fleeing from MA mostly do. 
Too bad a nice rant is spoiled by the facts. According to the precinct reports, the two NH counties closest to Boston (Hillsborough and Rockingham) voted for Bush. Unless you meant that MA liberals were retiring to Dixville Notch or somesuch.
Got it. debaser is a Free Stater. Makes all the sense in the world now.
I lived in northern New Hampshire for several years, very much in the middle of nowhere, and got a good feeling for the character of the state. ‘Live Free or Die’ is not a joke there, the state is populated by some of the most vociferous small government conservatives you will ever find. I knew an entire community of people who lived in the mountains without running water, because they refused to appeal to the government for help. Mind you, these are not nuts, they were normal working people. When it was forty below zero they would tramp out to the spring and fill milk jugs with water and heat them on the stove.
The press is very conservative, notably the Manchester Union-Leader which everyone gets and which is insanely conservative. Most people in the northern half don’t care for Massachusetts and grumble about them invading their state. Now all this is anecdotal, but they can swing either way. There is tremendous value put on self reliance in New Hampshire. Low taxes and little government interference will win their vote. This also means that the people I knew didn’t care for infringement of any of their freedoms, and generally couldn’t care less if gay people married.
Cisco nailed it really. This is the one state where a true Libertarian party could win.
Best. State Motto. Ever.
Simply put, most of the people who move into the state come from MA . (Hell, even I was born in MA.) MA as you know, has a far higher population of democrats and given that the housing industry has been booming over the past decade - nearly 1,000 new people in my town alone since 1998, for example- and particuarly over the past five years, it indicates that many people are moving up this way.
And Debaser it could be worse - we moved back to MA for 2.5 years in the mid-90s…my parents were lonely Republicans during the 1996 election indeed.
Ayuh, we real* New Englanders are notoriously frugal and independent, we hate big government/taxes/gun control/etc… and most native** New Englanders are quite conservative, conservative to the point of not caring what your neighbor does as long as it doesn’t affect you personally (i.e. the SSM thing)
*according to the “traditional” New Englander, “Real” New England consists of only Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, any states south of the NH/Vt border are actually members of “the South” and are derogitavely termed either “flatlandahs”, or “fromawayers”
**native = born in Maine, NH, or Vt, an old “Bert and I” comedy skit details the life of a well liked “local” who’s parents moved to Maine when he was 6 months old, he lived in Maine his whole life, married and raised a large family there, and when he died, they put on his gravestone “He was ALMOST one of us”
Real New Englanders hate Massachusets and it’s “liberal” citizens for corrupting the “real” New England
heck, Vermont has one of the lowest crime rates in the nation (the fact that it’s underpopulated doesn’t hurt) and it has NO “Concealed Carry Permit” requirements, if you’re old enough and responsible enough to own a handgun, you can be walking around on the streets with your gun in your pocket and it’s perfectly legal (well, aside from entering government buildings, schools and banks), however, you could go shopping, watch a movie in the theatre, be out for a walk, etc… “packing heat” and it’s perfectly legal
sorry, off on a tangent there, but yes, New England is generaly extra conservative, but we all also subscribe to the “live and let live” philosophy
When I lived in VT we used to call NH the “bizarro VT” as it looked kinda like an upside down VT, had the white mountains running down the center of it instead of VT’s green mountains, and were conservative while Vermont had a reputation for being ver liberal.
NH going for Kerry (granted not by much) was one of the very few bright spots for the Dems during an otherwise bleak election. NH was one of the very few states that flipped colors red to blue from the 2000 election. It shows that some of the small gov’t, state rights, relativly secular Repubs are being turned off by the current big government conservatives currently in power.
Now if they can just breed like rabbits and gain about 30 electoral votes during the next census, we won’t need Ohio next time.
The thing about southern NH being overrun by liberal MA transplants is bollocks. It’s filled with conservative MA transplants who don’t want to pay any taxes yet still pull in a MA salary. Jokes on them, though: NH has insane property taxes (to make up for what they don’t get in income and sales tax revenue), and those folks wind up spending 25% of their lives in the SUV’s driving up and down I-93 and 3.
Up North, folks who used to live prosperously on things like the paper and lumber industries have gotten their asses kicked by the global market (read: subsidized Canadian product). Of course, now, for those folks, living free and dying feels more like living free and starving, so a social net and protectionism seems less unattractive. Plus, there’s no shortage of tree-huggers and ex-hippies hiding out up there in woods, though nothing like VT.
You do realize that you’re not only labeling a large number of people, but then suggesting that they’re too stupid to add? Naw, the extra 20 miles down 93 can be worth it to save $100K on a house, and to get closer to the ski areas for that matter.
You’re right about the *total * tax burden in NH being in line with other states. You might also point out that “Taxachusetts” is 37th of 50 in that rating. FWIW, the income tax in Maine, which I pay out the wazoo, is the highest in the region. A friend/coworker who lives in Portsmouth, NH tells me his accountant says he’s the most-taxed person in the country.
Distance / Speed = Time
Not everyone who commutes from NH is going into Boston itself.
I lived and worked in Nashua for 15 years after going to school in more northern NH. My impression was that the southern tier was trending pretty much to the left, with certain groups going against that trend. But once you get out of Nashua/Bedford there is a well of more conservative voters in the smaller towns.
Everyone who lived and worked there was well aware of the property tax situation, very few people were caught by surprise.
It’s the only state motto which should have “…motherfucker” at the end of it. It just doesn’t work with the others. “The show me state, motherfucker.” 
Har, har.
You can make jokes but I’m not alone in thinking this way. There are lots and lots of people just like me who have to live in MA because that’s where the jobs are but hate it. This state is corrupt and not well run. Housing is extremely expensive. The taxes are high and we don’t feel represented by our government. Ted Kennedy is my senator fer cryin out loud!
I work in a high tech company on the 128 belt. I know several people who are job searching exclusively in NH and Maine just to get away from here. Such jobs aren’t easy to find, and people search for years.
You seem to be correct. That’s actually why I came back to this thread. Your linked page isn’t working right now and I can’t see the county results. But on talk radio over the weekend they were talking about this trend. It seems that many of the people fleeing MA such as myself actually tend to be conservative.
NH is being invaded, though. By Vermont! It seems that many VT democrats have been migrating over and that is helping to cause the shift.
Anybody have a link to a page that works where we can see results by county? I can’t find one. (I’ve tried Boston.com and Fox News.)
My cite worked for me just now, but you can try this one also.
Yeah, but it just doesn’t have the same hysterical impact as *“Massachusetts Liberals!!”. * 