Politics and Prose at Busboys and Poets 14th & V welcomes Scott Conroy to present his new book "Vote First or Die: The New Hampshire Primary: America's Discerning, Magnificent, and Absurd Road to the White House."
Site of the nation’s first primaries, New Hampshire has seemed to predict, if not determine, the ultimate victors in every presidential race from 1920 to 1992. Conroy, an experienced reporter and filmmaker currently producing Verizon Go90’s Embeds, spent a year before the 2016 election talking to New Hampshire voters, interviewing state and local officials, meeting with campaign strategists, and interviewing the candidates themselves. He found a dedicated yet nostalgic electorate, but also a state where 94% of the population is white and lives in cities of fewer than 110,000. Can a place so distinct from the diverse, urban demographics of most of the country be an effective influence? Is it time to rethink New Hampshire’s cherished primacy in the presidential election cycle?