James R. Splaine

So [sighs] people-- The, the fundamental misunderstanding at the national level is sort of like, "Oh, uh, New Hampshire's gonna try and do this again?" It's like, "No, this is what New Hampshire has done for decades." And [chuckles] and, and it became, you know, part of the culture as well, that, you know, that you were really going to, um, not just have the first primary, but defend it.

And we'd be remiss not to mention Bill Gardner, the longtime secretary of state, who took Jim Splaine's law and really turned it into, you know, a tool, a weapon.

He, he used it for whatever he needed to, a negotiating tactic.

It really became the thing that, um, over the years helped New Hampshire stay ahead of all these other states that, uh, started to say, "Hey, wait a second.