First in the Nation Primary (Really!)

Dixville Notch and Hart's Location, New Hampshire, two mountain towns in the Granite State will become the subject of the media's attention as tens of voters (literally) will put down their ski poles and head to the polls at midnight tonight to cast the first primary votes of the 2008 election.

This practice was made famous on a 2002 episode of "The West Wing" when President Bartlett watched closely as the early results came in from Hartsfield's Landing, a play on both towns’ names.

Hart's Location was the first town to vote at midnight beginning in 1948 at The Notchland Inn. Dixville Notch followed suit in 1960 when their resort hotel, The Balsams, opened the doors of their ballroom to voters. Sometime in the 1960's Hart's Location stopped this tradition but resurrected it in 1996.

Dixville Notch, named for a small gap in the White Mountains, has staged 12 midnight Presidential Primaries, meaning they are generally the first ballots cast in a presidential election.

Hart's Location, which gets its name from Col. John Hart, a native of Portsmouth, NH, has hosted anywhere between five and nine midnight primaries, depending on who you ask.

A rivalry has emerged as to who will be first and who does it best. (Stories exist depicting town clocks being moved ahead by a minute or two in order to be first.) Kath Harris of Hart's Location told the Boston Globe that reclaiming Hart's Location as first in the nation primary was a matter of community pride. "Plus, we have cake," said Harris.

In the past few years the voters of both towns have struggled with picking the nominee for Democrats in 2000 and 2004, voting for Senators Bill Bradley and General Wesley Clark. Republicans, however, should look to Dixville Notch as a bellwether, as they have correctly selected the GOP nominee in every election since 1960. Hart's Location is hoping to get back on track after voting for Senator Lamar Alexander in 1996 and Senator John McCain in 2000; In 2004, President Bush was unopposed.

Tonight, the media will descend on these mountain hamlets as they announce their results shortly after the polls close at 12:01am EST. When most of the world wakes up tomorrow morning the results of the Iowa Caucuses will be unimportant as the voters of Dixville Notch and Hart's Location decide who has the next big momentum swing. But whatever happens in the North Country, the campaigns won't have long to regroup because the next polls open in Nashua at 6:00am.

Polls open in 8 hours and 45 minutes. They close in 8 hours and 46 minutes. Step up and cast your vote.