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Final results: Summary results | Town resultsThe BasicsThe New Hampshire primary is a mainstay in American electoral politics. Every four years, voters gather to help determine the Republican and/or Democratic nominee for President. While the state only has 12 electoral votes in 2012 (normally it’s 24, but the Republican National Committee penalized the state party for moving up the event date), the primary’s position as one of the earliest contests gives the state out-sized influence over the nomination process.Only the Iowa caucuses come before New Hampshire’s primary. Traditionally, New Hampshire’s broad-based primary contest has been seen as a counter-weight to Iowa’s more drawn-out caucus process, which tends to draw a smaller core of party faithful. In the case of the 2012 Republican race, New Hampshire’s electorate is seen to represent the more libertarian-leaning, fiscally conservative wing of the party, while Iowa voters are seen as representing the socially conservative wing of the GOP base.N.H. Primary summary provided by StateImpact - NH reporter, Amanda Loder

Hassan And Lamontagne Discuss N.H. Tourism At Summit

Jonathan Lynch
/
NHPR

Both gubernatorial candidates Maggie Hassan and Ovide Lamontagne say the state’s tourism efforts are important but must be weighed against budget concerns.

Lamontagne and Hassan appeared at a tourism summit in Concord Wednesday morning, answering audience-submitted questions from tourism businesses owners.

Both candidates say they wouldn’t support an increase in the Meals and Rentals tax -- the second largest source of revenue for the state.

However, Hassan stated that she wouldn’t rule out raising tolls and the gas tax, but said it’s not likely.

Lamontagne offered up several initiatives to stimulate the tourism sector, including leasing out the state’s rest areas to private vendors, commercializing the ski operation on Cannon Mountain, and issuing uniforms to some state employees:

“How about this: What if our state employees had a sort of positive uniform. I don’t mean a rigid uniform, I mean something that spoke about New Hampshire, something that promoted New Hampshire.”

Hassan says the state’s tourism industry needs more skilled workers, and wants to see the state facilitate a better relationship between schools and businesses.

Both candidates support bringing gambling to the Granite State as a way to encourage tourism.

Tourists spent $4.2 billion last year in New Hampshire.

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