Peter, just to start with your queries re Grafton County. Hanover (home of Dartmouth) and Plymouth (home of Plymouth State University) can certainly distort county-wide trends because out-of-state college students vote. Insofar as we have any monkey business in NH elections, that’s where it occurs. I heard earlier today that Hanover High School was seeing more vote traffic than ever before, and both Obama (who was in town) and Clinton campaigns were claiming massive get-out-the-vote operations.
In Littleton, the biggest town in northern Grafton, and surrounding environs, you see a lot of “NORTH COUNTRY FOR EDWARDS” signs. I said at the NRpalooza in Manchester that this made about as much sense to me as the “QUEERS FOR PALESTINE” contingent at the anti-war rally in London in 2003. However, the Edwards guys claim that, in the wake of the Groveton mill closure up the road a ways from Littleton, Mister I’ll-Never-Stop-Fighting-Them-With-Every-Fiber-Of-My-Hair is getting some traction. Insofar as he’s got hopes of improving his numbers, it will come from Grafton and Coos counties.