Primary Players: Big States Seek Bigger Role

ByABC News
February 2, 2007, 4:35 PM

MANCHESTER, N.H., Feb. 11, 2007 — -- When Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., visited the Granite State this weekend for the first time in more than a decade -- and for the first time as a presidential candidate -- voters here were getting something they've come to regard as an inalienable right: the chance to size up the presidential candidates early and often.

Even though the primary here is still a year away, the major presidential candidates have already been here more than 30 times.

"It's the way politics should be," New Hampshire resident William Juch said of the onslaught. "These people should come and present themselves."

As hosts of the traditional first-in-the-nation primary, New Hampshire voters are used to getting to know the candidates personally.

"One of the benefits we have is a lot of the people will show up her," resident Kit Cottrell said. "A lot of the other states don't have that advantage."

Voters say that kind of intimacy is what makes this primary, which has been the nation's first since 1920, so special for New Hampshire and so important for the rest of the country.

"The value of the New Hampshire primary is that it's a small, level playing field, where anybody can play," St. Anselm College politics professor Dante Scala said. "Whether it's a small state governor, or a big state senator, it's a place where they can play out the game in front of the voters and everyone can listen to them."

But after 86 years, New Hampshire's position as leader of the pack is being challenged. California, Florida, Illinois and New Jersey are all considering moving their primaries up to have more influence over who gets nominated.

California voters in particular say they're tired of having candidates ignore them -- except when it comes to raising money -- since the nominee is essentially chosen by the time they get to the ballot box. State legislators have introduced a bill to move the California primary from June 3 to Feb. 5. It's a proposal Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger supports.