Trailing Media and Candidates in New Hampshire:
UM Experts

Check out the experts' Blog:
"Aboard the Candidate Express: A 2008 New Hampshire Diary"

Contact the experts

University of Maryland political communication experts Kathleen E. Kendall and Shawn Parry-Giles will be in New Hampshire to observe the final days of campaigning before the nation's first Primary. Kendall has chronicled the interactions between media, candidates and citizens in New Hampshire since 1988.

"The extraordinary compression of the calendar of presidential primary and caucus dates raises questions about whether New Hampshire will maintain its great influence on the process," says Kendall, a research professor of political communication at Maryland who has written Communication in the Presidential Primaries: Candidates and the Media, 1912-2000 and produced the video Primaries on the 2004 New Hampshire Primary.

"Everyone will have less than a week to absorb the Iowa results, people will be shaking off the New Year and diving headlong into one of the most unusual presidential races in decades," Kendall adds. "I've followed candidates and media crews through New Hampshire snows for 20 years, but I think the sense of urgency, the frantic need to succeed in this state that is a 'crystal ball' for the rest of the campaign, will be at an all-time high. I'll be watching the influx after New Year's to see."

Colleague Shawn Parry-Giles, a University of Maryland professor of political communication and director of the Center for Political Communication and Civic Leadership, will join Kendall in New Hampshire in early January. They will post a blog with daily reports and photos.

"The New Hampshire primaries take on even more significance in the 2008 presidential election because of the open seats in both parties, the lack of a clear front runner in both races, and the closeness of the New Hampshire primary to the Iowa caucuses in a year when the primary season starts earlier than ever before," says Parry-Giles. "The Iowa winners will be working hard to continue their momentum in New Hampshire while the second and third place candidates will try to check the front runners' ascension. All of the candidates, their surrogates, and the news media will invade New Hampshire from Jan. 3 through Jan. 8."

Schedule in New Hampshire

MEDIA CONTACTS:

Kathleen Kendall:

Shawn Parry-Giles: