CONCORD – Has someone who crossed the border of Mexico or Canada to enter the U.S. without permission committed a crime – or not?

Should taxpayers get the bill when a mature and healthy woman chooses to abort her fetus?

Should the government ban the use of coal, oil and natural gas to generate energy by 2030?

Now that New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner has ended the suspense about the date for the first-in-the-nation presidential primary, Democrats and Republicans seeking to serve can focus on what distinguishes them from their competitors.

At the State House in Concord on Monday, Gardner formally declared the #FITN will be Feb. 11. This was the date most expected for the primary, but Gardner had carefully left some room to move that date if he believed it was necessary.

After introducing guests at the State House on Monday, Gardner had them sign a poster, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the first time the New Hampshire primary became first in the nation on March 14, 1920, after Indiana, which had previously been first, dropped theirs altogether, and Minnesota changed to a later date.

Now, the 50 – that’s right, 50 – candidates who filed to run can spend the next two and a half months traveling to every nook, cranny and, oh yes, “Notch,” in New Hampshire trying to drum up support.

Those filing to run for president in the 2020 New Hampshire primary, in order by the date of registration, are as follows:

REPUBLICANS

Roque “Rocky” De La Fuente of California, Rick Kraft of New Mexico, Donald Trump of Florida, Star Locke of Texas, Robert Ardini of New York, Eric Merrill of New Hampshire, Stephen Comley St. of Massachusetts, Bob Ely of Illinois, Zoltan Gyurko of California, Matthew Matern of California, President R. Boddie of Georgia, Larry Horn of Oregon, Bill Weld of Massachusetts, Juan Payne of Alabama, Joe Walsh of Illinois, William Murphy of New Hampshire, and Mary Maxwell of New Hampshire.

DEMOCRATS

Mark Greenstein of Connecticut, Pete Buttigieg of Indiana, Thomas Torgesen of New York, Henry Hewes of New York, Bernie Sanders of Vermont, David Thistle of Massachusetts, Marianne Williamson of Iowa, John Delaney of Maryland, Michael Ellinger of California, Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, Tom Koos of California, Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Andrew Yang of New York, Joe Biden of Delaware, Steve Burke of New York, Steve Bullock of Montana, Julian Castro of Texas, Tom Steyer of California, Roque De La Fuente of California, Robby Wells of Georgia, Joe Sestak of Virginia, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Lorenz Kraus of New York, Raymond Moroz of New York, Ben Gleiberman of California, Deval Patrick of Massachusetts, Sam Sloan of New York, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Rita Krichevsky of New Jersey, Mosie Boyd of Arizona, and Jason Dunlap of Maryland.

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