Source: Politics<\/p>\n
MANCHESTER, New Hampshire \u2014 The storied New Hampshire primary is a dud.<\/p>\n
Debates are off. The frontrunner, Donald Trump, chose to spend a day in court. His main rival, Nikki Haley, is keeping a light (by New Hampshire standards) schedule. And Ron DeSantis, already an afterthought here, is effectively ceding the state and moving on to other contests.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like nothing I\u2019ve ever seen before in my 32 years of New Hampshire presidential primary experience,\u201d said New Hampshire GOP strategist Mike Dennehy, a veteran of John McCain\u2019s presidential campaigns here.<\/p>\n
The collapse of the GOP primary campaign in New Hampshire came on relatively suddenly this week, spurred by DeSantis\u2019 decision to focus more on South Carolina \u2014 where the primary is a month away \u2014 and Haley\u2019s refusal to debate unless Trump appeared alongside her. What remained was a string of nighttime rallies by the former president and a handful of retail events featuring Haley. No one is barnstorming.<\/p>\n
And that\u2019s just the Republican primary. On the Democratic side \u2014 where the incumbent president, Joe Biden, is not even competing and the main events are Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) discussing artificial intelligence \u2014 it\u2019s even worse. The dramatic elements that have traditionally defined this week of politics \u2014 from John McCain catching fire to Hillary Clinton choking up with tears \u2014 are nowhere to be found.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t see the frenzy, the frenetic activity,\u201d said Dave Carney, a New Hampshire-based Republican strategist. \u201cYou don\u2019t see the movements that are usually going on where you have folks crisscrossing the state, trying to get every last vote.\u201d<\/p>\n
Instead, Carney said, it\u2019s mostly \u201ca lot of TV ads and a lot of mail.\u201d<\/p>\n
Getting up-close-and-personal with presidential hopefuls is a rite of passage for Granite Staters who pride themselves on putting the nation\u2019s top politicians through the retail-politics ringer. Trump changed that in 2016, winning the state not by camping out in diners and living rooms but by holding rallies where he could speak to hundreds of people at a time.<\/p>\n
But when the 2024 campaign began last year, New Hampshire appeared to be returning to its traditional form. Trump had ditched his arena rallies for high-school auditoriums and performing-arts centers. He took a few questions from voters. He even popped into Manchester\u2019s famed Red Arrow Diner.<\/p>\n
Haley began to barnstorm the state with a pledge to \u201ctouch every hand\u201d and \u201canswer every question.\u201d Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy held court for hours in restaurants and VFW halls, answering questions and engaging in extensive conversations with voters.<\/p>\n