UDSON, N.H. - It has strip malls, subdivisions, and a solidly middle-class population of 22,000, giving this town the look and feel of Anywhere, USA.
But Hudson does have one distinction. And it matters tomorrow.
In every primary since 1952, this community just over the Massachusetts border has voted for the Democratic and Republican presidential primary winners, something unique in this state, despite other towns' claims to be bellwethers for each of the parties.
In search of an early peek at what the results might be in this state's first-in-the-nation primary, residents were asked over the weekend to reveal their thoughts and voting booth secrets.
Overall, their replies were laced with cynicism and the message that they want someone honest leading the country, although many people still seem to be deciding the best way to do that.
''I normally vote Republican, but my man doesn't have a chance,'' said Normand Bastien, an independent 53-year-old retired police officer who likes Steve Forbes. ''So I will give up my independence and go for Bradley just to get Gore out of there.''
As for George W. Bush, Bastien said, ''There's nothing there if you look in his eyes. He's not his father. He's not his mother, either.''
Senator John McCain, he added from his booth in Kay's Coffee Shop and Restaurant, ''is not an outsider. The only outsider is unelectable.''
Lisa Censabella, 28, a police officer who was standing in the parking lot of Citizens Bank, said she is still undecided.
But her brother, James, just switched his vote from Gore to McCain after attending a town meeting where the Arizona senator responded to many questions from the audience, including one of his.
''He gave him a straightforward answer,'' Censabella said. ''He asked, `What would you do with the economy?' And McCain said, `I'm concentrating on where we have problems right now.' Which seems like a decent answer to me.''
Tracey Dagesse, 32, has never voted before. But guilt has been creeping up, she said, and may push her to the polls tomorrow, after a weekend of reading the newspaper to decide how to vote.
''I have a friend that's thinking strongly on Bill Bradley,'' Dagesse said. ''But a lot are finding it hard to choose.''
One man, who declined to give his name because he earns a federal paycheck, said he has been turned off by the candidates' televised debates.
''Some of the bickering I've seen is really unprofessional,'' he said, adding that he usually votes Republican but is still undecided.
Mark Blease, 41, a machine setup worker, said he, too, is uncommitted, although he is leaning toward Bush.
''He has it inbred in him,'' said Blease, a Republican. ''I think he did a good job as governor. But I like McCain, too.''
In fact, as Blease was saying that, McCain was stirring up an audience of about 500 people just down the road in Windham, also part of the so-called golden triangle area of southern New Hampshire between Manchester, Salem, and Nashua that has swelled with voters since the 1950s, when Hudson emerged as a ballot-booth trendsetter.
Hudson, once a farm town, is now a Massachusetts bedroom community and home to many high-technology firms, including Lockheed Commercial Electronics Co. and Micronetics Inc.
Independent voters rule here, with 5,595 registered, compared with 4,311 Republicans and 3,448 Democrats. They are mostly white, with median family incomes of $62,000, and are mostly concerned with traffic congestion, education, and health care, which is the reason Cathy Bastien, 50, a nursing home administrator, is voting for Bradley.
''He's a man of integrity,'' she said. ''And his health care proposal is much better than Gore's.''
