ONCORD, N.H. - A television network correspondent recently called the campaign of George W. Bush with an unusual request: ''I need a snowy backdrop. Otherwise, no one will believe I'm in New Hampshire. Where can I go?''
Oftentimes this winter, the answer has been: Vermont.
There is something missing this year from the storied New Hampshire primary tradition. Though this afternoon's predicted snowfall could remedy conditions a bit, much of the state - especially where the candidates travel in the southern tier - has had no snow and barely any ice. Campaign planners can't even consider the usual ''photo-ops'' of ice fishing, snowmobiling, and snowplow driving. The only snow in the state is a modest amount ''north of the notches,'' where candidates rarely travel.
This is the talk of the state. Snow is as much a part of the New Hampshire primary as a no-tax pledge, often playing a significant role in the outcome of the race.
In 1972, when Edmund Muskie appeared in a storm outside the Manchester Union Leader to denounce the newspaper, some observers believed they saw tears caused by emotion. Even though other observers attributed the water on his face to the melting snow, his campaign was over.
In 1952, Estes Kefauver traveled around New Hampshire on a dog sled and won the primary. In 1984, former vice president Walter Mondale showed his Minnesotan mettle by ice fishing.
But this year, no one is snowbound. Discussions of thermal underwear, normally a hot topic, get about as much mention as foreign policy.
As of yesterday, Concord had gone 303 days without measurable snowfall, according to the National Weather Service. The state capital normally has 24 inches of snow by this time, but it has had just a trace all winter, the lowest amount in 100 years of record-keeping. Snow-lovers are hoping for some snowfall in the southern fringe of the state today, but a National Weather Service forecaster yesterday said the amount probably would be ''very light.''
It all seems like another sign that New Hampshire this year is different. The economically booming state, bursting with new high-tech employers and workers, is far less hide-bound and traditional than its ''Live Free or Die'' slogan suggests. But snow-free?
When Senator John McCain arrived here earlier this week, the temperature clock in downtown Concord read 45 degrees. ''I just got here from Michigan,'' he said, as if talking to a crowd of Floridians. ''It was cold!'''
Grizzled campaign veterans, who usually can be counted on to moan through dinner at Bedford's Wayfarer Inn about the lousy weather, instead are marveling about the lack of it. Meanwhile, the state is awash in a surplus of unused cliches, such as the one about candidates ''tromping through the snows of New Hampshire.''
Bush recently spent considerable time with an aide picking out what he considered the perfect winter coat, a tan Timberland ski jacket. But he has barely worn it, nor has he slipped on his new snow boots. His pointy cowboy boots have hardly lost their buff.
When Bush visits Laconia today, he is likely to see a most unusual sight. Lake Winnipesaukee is almost ice-free. Normally, the lake is dotted with ice-fishing shacks and four-wheel-drive trucks. This year, in many parts of the lake, boating would be possible.
''The lake is wide open,'' said Jeff Barr of Irwin Marine in Laconia.
More than a few political observers have suggested that someone call Hollywood and put things right. Here is the way it should be: The freshly plowed roads should be lined with snowbanks, the pine boughs weighted with slowly melting snow that re-freezes by night. The skies should turn leaden and then, with an hours-long heave, unleash a snowstorm that sends reporters and candidates scurrying to their toasty hotel rooms. After the storm clears, the ice crystals should glisten under a bluer-than-blue sky. Snow-mantled mountains, iced-over ponds - that is what New Hampshire winter is really all about. For true winter mavens, the candidates are just another part of the backdrop.
Only one candidate seems to make an issue of the weather. Vice President Al Gore, the author of ''Earth in the Balance'' and a longtime believer in the theory of global warming, frequently poses this question at town meetings: ''Does anybody here think the weather has been weird lately?''
Often, every hand shoots up.
Gore spokesman Doug Hattaway said the weather has given Gore credibility on global warming. ''People do talk about their concerns that New Hampshire's environment might be affected by this,'' Hattaway said.
To be sure, the primary-conscious citizens of New Hampshire are spending a lot of time opining about the issues, from the intricacies of Medicare benefits to the various tax plans. Still, talk of the weather dominates. New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner, a longtime observer of presidential campaigns, can't quite believe when he looks out his window that the primary is about to take place. Last Saturday, he raked his leaves instead of shoveling snow.
All of this recently led Ski NH, a ski area association, to announce it would demonstrate its snow-making capabilities on the statehouse lawn. But yesterday, a Ski NH spokesman said the event has been canceled because the ski areas want to use the machines to supplement what they say is the ample artificial white stuff already on many slopes.
So it is that today, the Legislature plans to act on a resolution applauding the snow-making industry for its ability to do what Mother Nature has not. In this wildly unusual winter, the measure is likely to pass without objection.
