"In my passion for the New Hampshire primary, I feel like a lawyer for a condemned man making his last appeal to the governor for clemency. What voters in other states really crave is a chance to deliberate over the choice of a presidential nominee rather than being curtly informed that the race is over and their opinions are irrelevant. New Hampshire is the state most likely to slow a rush to judgment. What New Hampshire offers is a chance for voters and reporters to see would-be presidents away from the trappings of the Imperial Candidate Machine. There is an anti-royalist streak in the state that prompts voters to rebel against wind-up candidates (George W. Bush in 2000 is a prime example) being championed by party kingmakers. With the threat to add low-turnout caucuses to the schedule between Iowa and New Hampshire, the Democratic Party is empowering single-issue activists (Iraq, ethanol, teachers unions) and decreasing the odds that the eventual nominee can win, say, Ohio. If the Democrats really want to encourage diversity, slow down the process and give a smaller Southern state with a large black population (South Carolina, Mississippi) its own week following Iowa and then New Hampshire. Then let the surviving candidates spend another week campaigning in a Western state with a large Hispanic population (New Mexico, Nevada). Then and only then should the front-loaded free-for-all begin."To fully understand Shapiro's love of New Hampshire, you need to read his book, One Car Caravan, where he tracked candidates as they worked New Hampshire living rooms in the months before the primary season. Highly recommended.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
