"Skiing the New Hampshire primary"
 

US politics and nordic skiing:

http://www.slate.com/id/2094064/entry/0/

JT

"Skiing the New Hampshire primary"
 

http://www.slate.com/id/2094064/entry/0/

It looks like this is the first of five essays that the author will be
submitting this week in advance of next week's New Hampshire
presidential primary election.

It would be nice if he makes it to Windblown in the southwest part of
the state. Almost all the trails are open, which is a rare treat for
southern N.H.

The ultimate skiing destination this week though would be the Balsams in
Dixville Notch. Just as New Hampshire has the role of hosting the first
primary election, the first votes within N.H. are traditionally counted
from the town of Dixville Notch. I was a little disappointed the first
time I made the trip up there to see that there really isn't a town in
the conventional sense. But New Hampshire, like the other New England
states except Maine, is organized so that every square inch of its
territory is within some named municipality, no matter how sparsely
populated. (The 2000 census reports a population of 75 for the town of
Dixville, but there are several towns in northern N.H. with as few as 0
official residents.) There is practically nothing there except the
Balsams hotel. But you don't really need anything else - this is the
whole point of a destination hotel - and this is fortunate because not
only is there nothing else nearby, but anywhere else is, by definition,
not nearby. The hotel has its own alpine ski area as well as one of the
best cross-country trail systems in the state. There is the excuse for
not going there that it is not convenient, but in the case of the
Balsams, the week before the primary, that is a poor excuse for an
excuse.

Lew Lasher
Cambridge, Massachusetts and Stowe, Vermont

"Skiing the New Hampshire primary"
 

Hey, he did make it to Windblown today. Sounded like the Open Slope was
in bad shape but the other trails were OK.

Only one day left. I doubt he'll make the big trip up to Dixville
Notch, but he could go to Jackson or Waterville Valley.


Lew Lasher
Cambridge, Massachusetts and Stowe, Vermont

"Skiing the New Hampshire primary"
 

The reporter may not have made it up to Dixville Notch, but
candidate Wesley Clark made the trip to troll for early votes.
No word on whether the former general skied at the Balsams or at
Bretton Woods (which is just up the road from Hart's Location).


Clark carries early-morning balloting in two hamlets
By Associated Press, 1/27/2004

DIXVILLE NOTCH, N.H. -- Retired Army General Wesley K. Clark won the
initial votes cast this morning in New Hampshire's Democratic
presidential primary, the first to be counted in a state primary this
year.

Clark had been the only major candidate to visit two of the state's
smallest hamlets -- Dixville and Hart's Location -- where residents cast
their votes in the early minutes of Election Day.

Clark received 6 votes in Hart's Location. Senator John F. Kerry had 5,
Howard Dean 3, Senator John Edwards 2.

Clark was in Dixville at the Balsam's hotel as the ballots were counted
minutes after midnight. He won Dixville with 8 votes. Kerry had 3,
Edwards 2, and Dean and Joseph I. Lieberman 1 each.

Officials and voters in both far northern towns had predicted the
retired general would be rewarded. There are no registered Democrats in
Dixville Notch, population 33, and just five in Hart's Location, which
has 39 residents. But state law allows independents to register with a
party at the polling place and vote in its primary. Most of Dixville
Notch's 16 independents and Hart's 14 were expected to vote in the
Democratic primary. Though Dixville is better known, the early voting
tradition began in Hart's Location, about 50 miles to the south.
According to local lore, Hart's Location began the practice in 1948
because many residents worked for the railroad and wanted to vote before
starting early shifts. The town ended the practice in the mid-1960s when
residents tired of all media attention, but resumed it in 1996.

© Copyright 2004 Globe Newspaper Company.

"Skiing the New Hampshire primary"
 

And for even more about Dixville Notch and its quirky elections:

http://www.politicallibrary.org/Tillotson.htm

I suppose having the lottery winner vote first is better than stoning
them to death. (See
http://mbhs.bergtraum.k12.ny.us/cybe...rts/lotry.html )


Lew Lasher
Cambridge, Massachusetts and Stowe, Vermont