ANCHESTER, N.H. - And so, the winner in the sweepstakes for the greatest campaign fund-raising effort of this election year is ... the state of New Hampshire.
Without Tuesday's primary, always the first in the nation, this small state - under snow for months of the year, gripped in bone-chilling cold for more months of the year - would be an afterthought in the political world, a Delaware with mountains, a South Dakota with a seashore. But because of the outsized importance of this faraway corner of the country with a peculiar character - it's so frugal that until recently fish and game officials sold the roadkill they scraped off the highways - candidates, campaigns, and correspondents flock here every four years.
Take away the primary and you take away $175 million of spending - and eliminate 1,525 jobs. A study prepared by the Library and Archives of New Hampshire Political Traditions says that for every dollar of direct primary spending, an additional $1.72 is generated inside the state because of the sales, earnings, and purchases of businesses and households. That explains the poll findings showing that more than half of New Hampshire's residents consider the primary very or extremely important to the state's economy.
It sure is important to media outlets. A study prepared for the Traditions organization found that the campaigns pump $7 million into broadcast political advertising alone, and though the station does not disclose ad revenues, it's clear that the largest beneficiary by far is Manchester's WMUR, the only statewide network affiliate.
The primary also accounts for $24 million in restaurant and hotel spending, which is why the regulars who wander into the Merrimack Restaurant in Manchester for eggplant Parmesan or stuffed shells are finding it pretty crowded these days - and why the old-timers who linger over the coffee at the Littleton Diner a whisper west of the Presidential Range sometimes find themselves surrounded by George W. Bush, Steve Forbes, and Al Gore. These diners won't see so many patrons until ... well, until four years from now.
''All this money is a quick dime and a slow dollar,'' says US Representative Charlie Bass, a Peterborough Republican. ''You can't live on what you make only in election years.''
The primary candidates may talk taxes in the Granite State, but what they really do is spend - and it doesn't hurt that two of them, Bush and Forbes, aren't bound by federal spending restrictions.
''In a snowless winter with lousy skiing, it makes for a good cash crop,'' says Thomas D. Rath, a former state attorney general. As primary day nears, no doughnut or finger sandwich is safe. The rental-car agencies are straining to get vehicles, and, because a lot of the outsiders and flatlanders don't know the difference between Crawford Notch and Pinkham Notch, there's a run on those with satellite directional devices.
In truth, with a state economy of $7 billion, New Hampshire could survive without the primary. Just not as well.
