The Granite State proved once again Tuesday night to be rock solid, when it came to delivering comprehensive, accurate voting totals from our first-in-the-nation primary.

It was a far cry from the Iowa Caucus fiasco of just a week ago, when days later Democrats in that state and informed voters around the nation watched results trickle in and then change over the course of days – not hours. Iowa’s inept handing of the caucus cast further doubt as to that state’s relevance in America’s process to elect a commander in chief.

Just as Iowa so clearly faltered, New Hampshire also sent a very strong message after our primary. Ours was one of reliability, relevance and results!

Polls closed in New Hampshire at 7 and 8 p.m. About 90 minutes later, more than 50 percent of precinct totals were available to media.

This data swiftly prompted entrepreneur Andrew Yang, who failed to gain any meaningful vote totals – despite having graduated high school in-state from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1992 – to end his presidential campaign.

Shortly after that, Colo. Sen. Michael Bennet also dropped out of the race.

We wrote it before and we stand by our message that New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary matters. Our diversity among ideas, if not ethnicities, showed Tuesday at the polls. We believe our results will carry campaigns into South Carolina and Nevada as well as Super Tuesday.

However, we will be surprised to see significant deviations there from the voting trends set by New Hampshire. Isn’t that, ultimately, the true test of our state’s significance on this national stage.

Newsletter