Key Question for PPO - Will it Play in Peoria

Public Radio station WCBU in Peoria, Illinois, became the first station to post a link to PPO on its home page and then promote the project on-air. A Peoria blogger picked up on the news and wrote about it. He liked the site but complained about the disproportionate influence of a small state like NH.

An Exeter PPO member responded and I alerted the PPO community to his defense of the NH primary -- adding my own commentary as well.

I copy it here:

"Of course you know that one of the aspirations of this project is to get you guys talking to voters around the country. Our own Philip Tisdall rose to the occasion when he saw the blog post in Peoria. I thought you’d like to see what he wrote in defense of NH.
The original link is here http://peoriapundit.com/blogpeoria/2007/10/05/media-citizen-journalism-v...

1. Philip Tisdall Says:
October 5th, 2007 at 2:44 pm

The need for a tiny state like New Hampshire to have such an oversized role in picking a president can only be justified if one believes that anyone should have a chance of becoming president. NH has some unique characteristics that make it suitable for such a role. It is small enough in size that you can easily cover the entire state by car. It has a small enough population that everyone can get a chance to see you in person. It has no large city in an adjacent state to influence to process. And, of critical importance, there is no dominant media outlet in the state. No television station, no radio outlet and no newspaper influences more than its surrounding community. This means that no candidate can come to the state with a lot of money and buy exposure. We call it “retail politics”. Every candidates has to come to every little town and make his or her case. G W Bush didn’t do this in 2000 and got killed by McCain who did. So before you complain about the New Hampshire primary, tell who you think should get a chance for our top political post.

Philip, you’ll set them straight. By the way, some might argue that WMUR and the UL wield considerable clout statewide – and some might include NHPR in that group – but on the other hand, it IS true that Boston media is powerful in the southern part of the state and many regional papers enjoy good loyalty in their individual territories. So I think I’ll accept your description of the media market. However, media buys are critical. Look at Romney’s huge advertizing investments in recent days as Giuliani has come up in the polls.

Small we might be, but even here, a quick $100,000 comes in pretty handy when your campaign needs a little pick-me-up. And how many little guys can spend that kind of money at the drop of a hat? So NH is better than most places for candidates with less cash but having lots of cash still matters greatly.

Forgive me if it seems like I’m splitting hairs; it’s the journalist in me.

Jon"