Obama and McCain Get Several Votes

Dixville Notch has shut Hillary Clinton out on the first official voting of the New Hampshire primary. The tiny town in far northern New Hampshire (actually, it's not really a town—its voters all live and work in the Balsams resort hotel) handed Barack Obama 7 votes in its primary, ahead of John Edwards (2 votes) and Bill Richardson (1). Hillary didn't even hit the board.

On the Republican side, John McCain won with 4 votes, to 2 for Mitt Romney and 1 for Rudy Giuliani.

Dixville holds its primary at midnight every year, taking advantage of a law that allows towns to open and close their polls whenever they want, so long as all votes are accounted for. It's a publicity stunt dreamed up by the original owner of the Balsams and it routinely attracts international attention. The results don't typically portend much. In 1992, the most votes in town actually went to Andre Marrou, who was running in the Libertarian primary, and last time around Wesley Clark won the Democratic race. But it is noteworthy that more Dixville residents (10) voted in the Democratic primary than in the G.O.P. contest (7). Typically, the town favors Republicans over Democrats.