Crumbling case for Granite State(add caucuses and time between Iowa,NH.2/5

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/12/13/crumbling_case_for_granite_state/

Crumbling case for Granite State

By Scot Lehigh, Globe Columnist | December 13, 2005

The mountains (with apologies to Robert Frost) are lovely, stark, and steep, the lakes are beautiful, the little towns picturesque, the liquor cheap. (The state would beckon even more if a tollbooth didn't rear its rapacious maw seemingly every 15 miles, but then, the Mass Pike isn't exactly free, either.)<snip>

Predictably enough, the state has gotten its tail feathers in a twirl about a new proposal by a national Democratic Party commission to interpose one or two more demographically diverse caucus states between Iowa and New Hampshire's Democratic primary.

For my money, a better experiment would be to add a second week between Iowa and New Hampshire, plus a caucus state on the same day as the Granite State. And then to allow several post-New Hampshire weeks before the next contests take place, to keep momentum from the early states from ending the nominating season prematurely. That way, New Hampshire would remain important, but stop short of being pivotal.

But it's unlikely any alteration will ever meet with New Hampshire's agreement. After all, state party officials are already predicting the end of democracy as we know it if New Hampshire's status is in any way disturbed.<snip>