Concord, N.H.

Iowans are supposed to be the nice ones (and they are). But two days here in New Hampshire makes me wonder if the old-style flinty Granite Staters haven’t gone Hawkeye warm and fuzzy. There was a fierce looking Ron Paul supporter who saw me coming out of the Capitol Center for the Arts after the NBC News/Facebook debate this morning and who started to bellow, “no neocon, no neocon!” But he was pleasant enough when I went over to shake his hand. (I told him, yes, I am a neocon.)

And all the New Hampshirites with whom I chatted in the theater this morning were friendly and positively hospitable—concerned that my colleagues and I were enjoying our stay in their state, solicitous about whether we’d been informed about good restaurants in which to dine. (I told them—truthfully—that Steve Hayes and I had really enjoyed our baby back ribs at the TGIF in Manchester’s Mall of New Hampshire last night.) Then the clerk at the Barnes and Noble this afternoon (also in the Mall of New Hampshire—an excellent place!) told me he disagreed with almost everything I said on Fox, but was still pleased to meet me, and was gratified I liked some of the same mystery authors he did.