Granite State

Is the Granite State going soft? For years, New Hampshire was the only state without a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, one of only two states with laws banning gays from adopting and one of only two with neither an income nor a general sales tax. In three short months, lawmakers did away with the first two distinctions and came perilously close to ending the third. Other anomalies: The Democrats control the Senate for the first time since 1912.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, just released a statement in which she argues that despite Mitt Romney's sizable margin of victory in New Hampshire, the candidate failed to meet expectations. Here's the statement: "Mitt Romney may have won in New Hampshire tonight, but he can't run from the fact that his support was rapidly eroding before any vote was even cast.  Over the course of the last few months Romney had the support of as much as 45 percent of the primary electorate -- at one point boasting a nearly 30 percent lead over the rest of the GOP field.

The old adage about never letting 'em see you sweat is something that Kriss Soterion takes quite literally. The veteran makeup artist has pancaked the faces of numerous presidential candidates, including Pat Buchanan, Rudolph W. Giuliani, Al Gore and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Now business is booming after her recent makeover of Clinton for a televised debate here. Soterion is even marketing a new lipstick, known as -- you guessed it -- Debate.

Mitt Romney rolled to a convincing victory in the New Hampshire primary, taking a broad stride toward capturing the GOP presidential nomination as the contest heads south for a pair of potentially make-or-break contests. The win Tuesday gave Romney a one-two sweep in the leadoff voting of the 2012 campaign, a first for any Republican apart from a sitting president, as the race moved to South Carolina and Florida. The conservative candidates who stand the best chance to stop him there — former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry — were trailing far back and appeared unlikely to get a significant lift from their performances here.

The Old Man of the Mountain -- New Hampshire's Great Stone Face -- fell Saturday, a tragedy of immense geological and cultural proportions in the Granite State. "What other state has lost its symbol just like that?" said Marie Harris, the state's poet laureate. The four-story stone outcropping at Franconia Notch State Park in the White Mountains was reproduced on New Hampshire license plates, road signs and stationery. It's on the commemorative-issue U.S. quarter.

The blowtorch crackles to life in Gary Goodwin's hands, wildly spitting a foot-long spray of orange flame before he tames it. When the flame has narrowed to a fiery blue 1,000-degree arrow, he hands it to his student. Tim Lewis gingerly applies the torch to a slab of gray granite, splashing flames across its surface. "Get it right down there, Tim," Goodwin says. "More of an angle, right where it makes a noise." Lewis adjusts the flame, and this time the stone glows and the torch screams.

New Hampshire is famous for starting the presidential nominating process with its February primary. Now it can claim distinction for failing to finish up. On the first roll call at the Republican Convention, the Granite State passed so that Texas would be able to clinch George Bush's nomination. When the chairman called on New Hampshire again in the wee hours Thursday, all of its delegates had left. As a result, Bush was nominated on the basis of a 49-state roll call.

New Hampshire is one of the nation's more conservative states politically. It still has no state sales or income tax. Some outsiders continue to suspect that Granite State residents do little but sit around country stores and whittle when they are not tapping the maple trees or shoveling snow. In many ways, however, New Hampshire is a surprisingly sophisticated state politically and a very active one, with a state legislature of more than 400 members.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, just released a statement in which she argues that despite Mitt Romney's sizable margin of victory in New Hampshire, the candidate failed to meet expectations. Here's the statement: "Mitt Romney may have won in New Hampshire tonight, but he can't run from the fact that his support was rapidly eroding before any vote was even cast.  Over the course of the last few months Romney had the support of as much as 45 percent of the primary electorate -- at one point boasting a nearly 30 percent lead over the rest of the GOP field.

Gary Johnson knew he was an underdog for the Republican presidential nomination, but his campaign laid out a strategy for breaking through, called "the New Hampshire Path. " The idea was that Johnson could build a base of support in the small state where voters place a premium on retail politics. The campaign's limited resources would go further there than in more expensive states. He even rented a house in Manchester to serve as a base of operations. "New Hampshire is a level playing field on which Gary Johnson will compete very effectively if given the opportunity.

Mitt Romney celebrated his victory in the New Hampshire GOP presidential primary with a warning to rivals to stop attacking his venture capitalist past. “President Obama wants to put free enterprise on trial,” Romney said in his prepared speech, which he delivered on a stage filled with family and supporters. “In the last few days, we have seen some desperate Republicans join forces with him. This is such a mistake for our party and for our nation. This country already has a leader who divides us with the bitter politics of envy.

Consider the cranky New Hampshire voter. "Maybe someone can ask you about being a warmonger and how that reconciles with your faith," Michele Seven demanded at a town hall meeting Rick Santorum held Friday in the auditorium of Dublin School. Her sweet tone belied the hostility behind her question. "Jesus said, 'Love your enemies,' and to feed them. Not blow them up. " "Right," replied the former Pennsylvania senator, whose bellicose language toward Iran is proving less popular here than in Iowa, where he ended in a near dead-heat with Mitt Romney in the first vote of the 2012 presidential campaign.

Gary Johnson knew he was an underdog for the Republican presidential nomination, but his campaign laid out a strategy for breaking through, called "the New Hampshire Path. " The idea was that Johnson could build a base of support in the small state where voters place a premium on retail politics. The campaign's limited resources would go further there than in more expensive states. He even rented a house in Manchester to serve as a base of operations. "New Hampshire is a level playing field on which Gary Johnson will compete very effectively if given the opportunity.

Still flirting with another presidential run, Rudolph W. Giuliani is scheduled to make what an aide calls an "important trip" to New Hampshire aimed as much at convincing the former New York mayor to run as convincing the state's voters that he's the Republican with the best chance to win in 2012. A planned two-day visit beginning Thursday is designed to showcase Giuliani's potential strengths in the still-uncertain race for the GOP nomination. He is to meet with various Republican groups throughout the Granite State, and participate in discussions on healthcare reform, job creation and crime.

As recently as last week, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney seemed to be holding a secure lead in New Hampshire, even as he was losing ground to former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Iowa. But a Boston Globe survey released Sunday showed that the former Massachusetts governor's numbers were slipping in the Northeast as well: Romney, the poll said, now holds a 3 percentage point lead over Arizona Sen. John McCain in New Hampshire, down from 15 points in November.

The old adage about never letting 'em see you sweat is something that Kriss Soterion takes quite literally. The veteran makeup artist has pancaked the faces of numerous presidential candidates, including Pat Buchanan, Rudolph W. Giuliani, Al Gore and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Now business is booming after her recent makeover of Clinton for a televised debate here. Soterion is even marketing a new lipstick, known as -- you guessed it -- Debate.

Having read so much about recession-torn New Hampshire, I half-expected, at the border crossing from Vermont, to encounter scenes reminiscent of the ci-devant Soviet Union: throngs clamoring for bread, Jeffrey Sachs handing out pamphlets about the joys of a cauterizing plunge into the free market, whiskered peasants lofting icons of George III.

Still flirting with another presidential run, Rudolph W. Giuliani is scheduled to make what an aide calls an "important trip" to New Hampshire aimed as much at convincing the former New York mayor to run as convincing the state's voters that he's the Republican with the best chance to win in 2012. A planned two-day visit beginning Thursday is designed to showcase Giuliani's potential strengths in the still-uncertain race for the GOP nomination. He is to meet with various Republican groups throughout the Granite State, and participate in discussions on healthcare reform, job creation and crime.

Deborah Nelson stood amid more than a dozen Sen. John Edwards supporters Tuesday night, her eyes glued to an oversized television set on a tall cart in a hotel ballroom. As the candidates' vote totals cropped up on the screen, she began cheering as though she was watching a horse race. "Keep going, keep going," Nelson shouted, and then, as Edwards' name temporarily came up a point ahead of retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark's, "Yes!" The big story out of New Hampshire was Massachusetts Sen. John F.

The Old Man of the Mountain -- New Hampshire's Great Stone Face -- fell Saturday, a tragedy of immense geological and cultural proportions in the Granite State. "What other state has lost its symbol just like that?" said Marie Harris, the state's poet laureate. The four-story stone outcropping at Franconia Notch State Park in the White Mountains was reproduced on New Hampshire license plates, road signs and stationery. It's on the commemorative-issue U.S. quarter.