2000 New Hampshire Primary

It's fun strolling down memory lane. Here's an interesting piece about how Bush lost in New Hampshire. His chief political strategist called New Hampshire citizens "cranky" -- I think for Texans this has something to do with the fact that New Hampshire folks can stand the cold, but are not easily schmoozed on a bitter cold night. They're too smart for that crap.

The numbers could scarcely have been worse for Bush. Bush aides and campaign spokespeople had been predicting that he would either win New Hampshire or only lose by a few percentage points. Instead, he got crushed by Senator John McCain. The eighteen-point loss has sent the Bush camp into a tailspin and forced a radical re-tooling of the campaign. It has also put the spotlight on Rove, who was bragging just ten weeks before -- during a luncheon here in Austin before the Texas Civil Justice League -- that the Bush campaign could afford to ignore New Hampshire, because Bush's organization in the other primary states was so good. Rove called New Hampshire voters "cranky" and predicted that Bush would have the Republican nomination wrapped up by the end of this month.