(File photo) A New Hampshire Historic Highway Marker, which stands near the entrance to the state library on Park Street in Concord, describes the state's First in the Nation primary.

All this bruhaha of late over the suggestion that another state — say, South Carolina — be awarded the coveted pageant sash emblazoned with “First in the Nation” in gold letters and “presidential primary” in smaller, plainer letters got me thinking about the time I took a ride deep into Nashua’s southwest quadrant to visit an icon of local, state and national politics who kept a museum-like office in a quintissential New England outbuilding situated closer to the N.H.-Massachusetts state line than to his main house next door.

A little sign reading “Resources of NH” tacked up next to the main entrance told me I was in the right place. A tall, gregarious man with white hair pushed open the door and reached out to shake the visitor’s hand.

“Hugh Gregg … c’mon in,” he said by way of introduction, as if I was from another country and had never heard of him. Then, “I know your Dad … how’s he doing?”

It was 1990, perhaps 1991, and I was there in my capacity as Telegraph chief photographer, my assignment being take a bunch of pictures of Gregg to go with a feature story a Telegraph reporter (I can’t recall his or her name; we had so many back then) was writing about Gregg’s latest book — “The Candidates: See How They Run” — in which he imparts another batch of his vast knowledge and detailed observations he picked up over the course of his 40-plus years in public service.

Gregg, a decendant of Scottish immigrants whose family in the 1880s founded Gregg & Son, a multi-generational millwork manufacturer that became one of Nashua’s largest employers and most successful businesses, was a toddler when New Hampshire held the first of what would become decades worth of First in the Nation presidential primaries on the second Tuesday in March 1920.

The idea of adding a primary election to the presidential election process had been tossed back and forth since the early 1910s, and it was eventually decided to institute a primary ahead of the 1916 presidential election.

New Hampshire participated, but not as the First in the Nation state. That honor went to Indiana, while New Hampshire and Minnesota held theirs a week later.

But come the next presidential election cycle, New Hampshire was elevated, almost passively, to First in the Nation status, when Minnesota decided to discontinue its primary and return to a caucus, then Indiana moved its primary from March to May.

And as any Granite Stater with even an elemental knowledge of political history could tell you, once New Hampshire was handed the title First in the Nation, it would hold onto it for dear life, defending it with whatever means necessary to send an envious challenger packing.

Hugh Gregg was a staunch protector of his home state’s First in the Nation status, actively advocating for it to stay put whenever he or others felt it was being challenged.

I recall chatting at length with Gregg during that early 1990s visit to Resources of NH, and also recall leaving knowing a whole lot more about various aspects of the world of politics from Nashua to New Hampshire to the national stage.

“The Candidates: See How They Run” is a great read, as was another of Gregg’s several books, “Why New Hampshire?” which he co-authored with then-Secretary of State Bill Gardner. It was Gregg’s final work, published just before his September 2003 passing.

Perhaps most fascinating when perusing historical accounts of Hampshire’s role in presidential primaries are the quotes attributed to not just politicians, but journalists, pundits, talk-show hosts, small-time office holders, fringe candidates and other wannabes.

Many such anecdotes are distributed across the pages of “Why New Hampshire?” Here are a few.

“In 1993, when the Republicans were boasting about their Big Tent, it was Pat Buchanan who advised, ‘When you stretch the tent too far, the tent poles collapse.'”

“Mike Barnicle, columnist for the Boston Globe, commenting on the presidential primary, wrote, ‘Some who live here (in New Hampshire) take hours to watch Sixty Minutes on television.”

“In New Hampshire, Gov. Reagan preached his Eleventh Commandment, ‘Thou shall not speak ill of a fellow Republican.’ Candidate Bush subsequently proposed a Twelfth Commandment, ‘Don’t make any foolish promises.'”

“Caroline Killeen, running against the first George Bush, coined a slogan, ‘America needs trees, not bushes.'”

Congressman Morris K. Udall on inflation: “The way to slow down inflation is to turn it over to the post office.”

Sen. Phil Gramm on the campaign trail: “Courting people in New Hampshire is like getting kissed by Elizabeth Taylor. It’s been done before.”

“In 1964, Sen. Barry Goldwater didn’t add many new friends in (New Hampshire’s) Seacoast area when he made this statement: ‘This country would be better off if we saw off the eastern seaboard and let it float out to sea.'”

“Dressed as Uncle Sam and hurrying from Massachusetts in a Japanese car to meet the filing deadline, presidential candidate Sam Rouseville got nabbed for speeding in Manchester and never made it to Concord.”

“Then there are the modest candidates, such as former vice president Al Gore: ‘I do benefit from the low expectations people have for me.'”

“Or, Sen. Richard Lugar: ‘I know people say I’m far too low key, even that I’m dull.'”

Former Berlin mayor Dick Bosa, a two-time presidential candidate, “cautioned his followers not to spell his name backwards.”

A few observations by journalists:

Former New York Times columnist William Safire: “The New Hampshire primary has generated into a media-saturated joke. The state’s citizens are overexposed, over-polled, over-campaigned upon … .”

Jim Shea, The Hartford Courant: “The truth is, everybody in this part of the country thinks New Hampshire is weird.”

The Boston Globe: “The state speaks well because it listens well. New Hampshire deserves to be first.”

Former New Hampshire Democratic chairman Chris Spirou: “Our state’s primary will be on the Fourth of July, four years before the next election, if we have to. That’s it. The Statue of Liberty is located in New York. The first in the Nation primary is in New Hampshire. When they move the Statue of Liberty, we’ll move our primary.”

Bob Nardini, the Concord Monitor: “Whether this New Hampshire attraction proves as enduring as the Old Man or goes the way of Benson’s Animal Park, a legacy is now on record.”

Former vice president Al Gore: “I support New Hampshire’s role and will protect it. I will make certain the Democratic party always has New Hampshire go first.”

Dean Shalhoup’s column appears weekly in The Sunday Telegraph. He may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

Newsletter