Want to feel loved? Join the New Hampshire legislature.
Every four years, the cast of presidential candidates flood to New Hampshire to woo citizens in the state with the first primary in the country. At the top of their list: getting endorsements from state lawmakers.
"Whether they're the frontrunner or the ones in the back of the pack, they all come a-courtin'," nine-term Republican state Rep. Sherman Packard tells News Desk.
There are enough of them to go around. New Hampshire had the 10th-smallest population in 2005 but has a gargantuan House of Representatives of 400 members, giving it the lowest ration of citizens to lawmakers in the country at one representative for every 3,000 people. (See our calculations here.)
Some of the candidates are naturally more organized. As of Tuesday, the New Hampshire office for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign had announced 29 endorsements from state representatives. Several have chosen to evangelize for Clinton among their peers.
"People I truly respect in the legislature are supporters of Hillary. They call me and they try to get me front-row seats" at her events, says Sally Kelly, a first-term Democrat who has endorsed Sen. Barack Obama. She expressed amused disappointment in learning that her committee chairman and mentor, Edgar Mears, had endorsed Clinton. She says she still gets frequent calls from representatives for the less popular candidates.
A huge House of Representatives -- only 35 seats smaller than the national House of Representatives in Washington -- means endorsements help candidates more directly than in larger states, says Democrat John DeJoie, who backs Clinton.
"In New Hampshire, with 400 of us, we really know our neighbors," he says. "When we endorse, it means a lot to neighbors who know us."
Lawmakers and campaign officials from both parties estimate that approximately three quarters of the legislature, including the 24-seat state senate, will have signed on with a candidate by Primary Day on Jan. 22, 2008.
--Chris Wilson
Etc.: It Isn't Cheap Running For President (Video), on USNews.com
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