New Hampshire Primary

DOVER--During her first campaign event in New Hampshire, Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin compared the Granite State to her native state of Alaska.

Palin also paid homage to the fall foliage and the state motto of "Live free or die."

MINNEAPOLIS-The oldest son of U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) visited the New Hampshire delegation to thank them for their support of McCain during the primary.

"I'm here to say thanks because without the folks in New Hampshire, and the hard work from a lot of the people in this room, we wouldn't be doing what we're doing here in St. Paul," Doug McCain told delegates at their morning breakfast at the Hilton hotel.

DENVER-- State Sen. Joe Foster (D-Nashua) told PolitickerNH.com that a resolution passed this past weekend will not affect the New Hampshire primary.

Foster served on the Democratic National Committee's rules committee which passed a resolution that will examine the Democratic primary process.

The Republican National Committee rules committee has voted to grant New Hampshire an exception that would allow the Granite State to hold the first-in-the nation primary in 2012.

The resolution still faces hurdles over the week. Tomorrow the RNC itself will vote on the resolution, then on Friday the convention rules committee will vote and on Monday the entire convention will vote on the exception.

DENVER -- A New Hampshire delegate for former U.S. Sen. John Edwards is torn over the absence from the Democratic National Convention of the man he supported during the New Hampshire primary.

State Sen. Peter Burling (D-Cornish) said "there's a yes and no answer" when asked whether he was disappointed that Edwards would not be speaking at the convention.

DENVER-New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley took personal responsibility for a story that appeared in this morning's Union Leader.

The article quotes Buckley has saying that a recent Democratic commission, formed to change the primary system, would not affect the New Hampshire primary, but state Sen. Lou D'Allesandro (D-Manchester) said in the same article that there is a "50-50" percent that the Granite State would not retain the first-in-the-nation primary.

DENVER-U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) told New Hampshire convention delegates that U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's defeat in the New Hampshire primary was a turning point for the campaign.

"It was a night I reminded Barack Obama of three weeks ago," Durbin told the delegation at their daily breakfast. "That night really made the difference for the campaign."

DENVER- Iowa Gov. Chet Culver discussed the importance of protecting the status of the New Hampshire primary and Iowa caucuses at the New Hampshire Democrats morning breakfast.

"I think the more people that understands our rich history in the primary the better chance we have in protecting it," Culver told New Hampshire Democrats.

This weekend the Democratic National Committee is set to consider a resolution that would change the party's presidential primary system, but New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley said the resolution should not be a threat to the state's first-in-the-nation primary status.

According to a statement the DNC's rules committee will study a resolution that "will be to ensure that no primary or caucus is held prior to the first Tuesday in March of 2012, with the exception of the approved pre-window states, whose contests would be held during February 2012."

Rudy Giuliani's former New Hampshire executive director, Jennifer Hallowell, has been featured in an article by The Detroit News.

Hallowell, now Great Lakes regional manager for U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), called McCain's New Hampshire messaging a "freight train."