MEET THE (WOULD BE) PRESIDENT !

Meet the (would-be) president
By Laura Smith-Spark BBC News, Manchester, New Hampshire.

Republicans, like the Democrats, have flocked to New Hampshire. Want to meet the next president of the United States? Move to New Hampshire and you stand a good chance.
In a country of some 300 million people, the state's 1.3 million residents are perhaps the most heavily-canvassed and targeted voters of any in the nation, bar Iowa.
Last week each party's candidates flocked to New Hampshire for the latest televised debates, as they seek the all-important nomination to run for president in 2008.
And over the coming months, the contenders will court the state like no other, descending on it for house parties, 4 July parades and rallies - each time seeking vital "face time" with potential voters, in a strategy known as "retail politics".
The reason for this love affair lies in the peculiar politics of New Hampshire.

State profile: New Hampshire

Despite its tiny size, it holds disproportionate sway over the electoral process because, since 1952, it has been first in the US to vote in primary elections to choose each party's presidential nominee.
And from 1952 to 1992, when Bill Clinton bucked the trend, no-one won the presidency without first winning their party's New Hampshire primary.
Its residents are fiercely proud of their first-in-the-nation status, and are currently opposing attempts by other states to move their primaries up the calendar ahead of it.
But such a history also breeds expectations - and there have been suggestions in US media that some potential voters are feeling neglected.
Big buzz
It's not for lack of attention on the part of the candidates, however.
Rather, such is the buzz surrounding some of the frontrunners that instead of meeting them at a cosy coffee morning, people have found themselves in a crowd of hundreds or even thousands.

Senators Clinton and Obama have attracted large crowds to events. Dean Spiliotes, director of research at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at St Anselm College, says this has been particularly true of some events held by Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
"Early on some of Obama's advisers suggested in the media they would do something a bit differently from the traditional New Hampshire model," he says.
"They are still doing some of these larger events - but also the smaller ones. But it's difficult. Part of it is that they are popular candidates."
He warns it is important not to underestimate the power of retail, or face-to-face, politicking - especially in a state where the residents are very switched-on.
"Voters meet the candidates directly and in general, what we have found is that voters seek out candidates that they already have an affinity for," he says.
"Then they get more excited and so bring in their friends and their families and it has a multiplying effect. It helps the candidates mobilise networks of supporters."
Both the Clinton and Obama campaign teams have said they intend to organise more small-scale events.
'Alive and well'
The good news for the so-called second tier candidates is that their events - less over-subscribed than those of their "rock star" rivals - may be more likely to inspire undecided voters.

I will be able to ask the next president of the United States something that is important to me -
Student Matt St John.
Lou D'Allesandro, a Democratic New Hampshire state senator and chair of the state senate finance committee, points out that there are also advantages to pulling in bigger crowds.
"It's exciting, which is very important - and you bring in new people when you have big crowds," he says.
However, campaigners are not abandoning the tradition of intimate gatherings just yet, he adds, with house parties planned at his home for several candidates.
Professor Stephen Wayne, chair of American Politics at Georgetown University, points to figures showing that in the first five months of 2007, Republican and Democratic candidates between them made almost 80 visits to the state.
"Some of the rallies that Senator Obama and Senator Clinton have held because of their popularity have been large," Professor Wayne says.
"But I'm sure the amount of face-time and interaction with the lesser known candidates is much as it was in the past.
"I think retail politics remains live and well in the US political system."
Personal level
That should come as a relief to 19-year-old Matt St John, who moved to New Hampshire to study precisely because he wanted to meet the political movers and shakers.
"I realised it was a different world," he says. "I've seen every presidential candidate at least once or twice, I've seen Hillary Clinton, Karl Rove, President and Laura Bush.
"There are 18 candidates. If I go to 18 events and ask the same questions of them all, I will be able to ask the next president of the United States something that is important to me.
"It's an amazing opportunity to have as a 19-year-old."

BBC NEWS REPORT.