Why Exeter

There certainly are other towns or small cities that I might have chosen so this focus on Exeter is no slight to any other community. In fact, when I first thought of following one place for the year leading up to the primary, a colleague suggested that we follow three places and for a while, I was thinking in those terms.

But ultimately, I figured that if we were going to do this right, we couldn't spread ourselves too thin and I'd have to settle on just one place. That place would have to be small enough to get to know but not so small that the candidates would overlook it. It had to be a place where candidates of both parties would find enough supporters to make a visit worthwhile. In round numbers, there are about 3,000 Republican votes and more than 2,000 Democratic votes up for grabs in Exeter. And the town needed people who tended to get involved relatively early, otherwise, there wouldn't be anything to talk about in January and February.

The statistics needed to be right too. Politically, Exeter is about equally divided among Republicans, Democrats and Independents. The recent gains by Democrats have energized Republicans and from a story telling perspective, the more people who are motivated, the better.

Socio-economically, Exeter is far more diverse than meets the eye. Sure, the downtown has the look of carefree comfort. There are a number of small shops with cute names like Lunachics and Whirlygigs, a traditional town hall, classic New England churches and the Phillips Exeter Academy. But the rest of Exeter is much different. One fifth of the homes are mobile homes. The median household income is about $3,000 less than what you'd find in the state overall. The town's third largest employer is the Osram Sylvania lighting and electronics manufacturing plant.

Finally, the town needed to feel like New Hampshire. There are places here that are essentially just like the suburban communities you can find anywhere in America. There is nothing wrong with them, but if this was to be a chronicle of the NH primary, I wanted it to be set in a place that has the qualities you would only find in NH, or at least in New England.

Data links for Exeter

http://www.nhes.state.nh.us/elmi/htmlprofiles/exeter.html

http://www.nharpc.org/infosheet.php