Everyone Else Will Get To Vote Eventually
by Stephanie Grace - Times-Picayune (excerpt)

The rest of the country has long resented the outsized say of New Hampshire and its partner Iowa, which holds its caucus Jan. 3. While voting early is a long tradition in Iowa and New Hampshire, the fact that candidates get pegged winners or losers so early means that nominees are effectively chosen before larger, more diverse states get to vote.

This year, more states than ever tried to do something about it, by moving their own contests up in the calendar. Louisiana set its 2008 primary for Feb. 9, earlier than ever but still after huge states such as California, New York, Illinois and Massachusetts. As it stands now at least 30 states will hold presidential primaries or caucuses before Louisiana, with 23 of those contests coming Feb. 5.

The result is an impossibly scrunched schedule that, contrary to intent, has probably made Iowa and New Hampshire even more important, since candidates who don't meet or beat expectations in those states won't have time to recover.

And New Hampshire is also battling for control with a national political press corps that has, also earlier than ever, divided the field into apparent winners and losers.

"The media covet -- and, to a large extent, have usurped -- the traditional New Hampshire role of winnowing the field," an editorial in the Concord Monitor lamented.

Which suggests New Hampshire is finally getting a taste of how the rest of the country feels