Bush wins vote in tiny N.Hampshire hamlet

Dixville Notch and Hart’s Location take advantage of a state election law that allows communities to close the polls after all registered voters have cast their ballots.

Results were not immediately available for Hart’s Location, which also votes early on Tuesday morning.

Both towns are heavily Republican, and former Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole won there in the 1996 election. President Bill Clinton handily won that election nationally.

Eleanor Pearson, one of the 16 registered Republicans in Dixville Notch, said she voted for Bush.

"I think he’s the best candidate and I think the country needs a change," she said, adding she was confident the Texas governor would get the experience he needed to run the whole country via "on-the-job training."

"I don’t think anybody goes in knowing exactly what’s going to happen, or what they’re going to do," she said.

Gail Barba, a registered independent and the sole Nader supporter in Dixville Notch, said it was the third time she’d cast her ballot for the Green Party nominee.

"I’m not a big Gore fan. I dislike him. I don’t dislike Bush, but I didn’t want to vote for him, so if Nader is a vote against Gore, then it serves a double purpose," Barba said.

The town’s entire voting population — 16 Republicans, nine independents and two Democrats — gathered in the Ballot Room at the elegant Balsams resort on Monday evening, enjoying chocolate chip cookies and finger sandwiches before they could officially cast their ballots at 00:01 EST.

Neil Tillotson, who turns 102 next month, owns The Balsams and kicked off the midnight voting party in 1960. He was an early supporter of Sen. John McCain, who lost the Republican primary to Bush, but refused to disclose his vote on Tuesday.

"The one I was really for didn’T make it," Tillotsen said.

As for Bush, he said, "I hope he’s got enough experience. Washington has not been his campground. I guess he did a good job in Texas."

The town lures lots of political candidates eachpresidential election year. This year, it hosted Bush, billionaire Steve Forbes and McCain, who visited twice. Even former Red Cross President Elizabeth Dole and former Tennessee Gov. Lamar Alexander came to town before they dropped out of the race for president.

The ballots can only officially close once all the town’s registered voters have submitted their ballots.

"If they didn’t all show up, we would go out and get them," said Michael Pearson, a registered Republican who went for Bush. "I think he has more integrity. I agree with his philosophy. … I think he can bring people together more than Mr. Gore can," he said.

The walls of the Ballot Room are decorated with pictures of past candidates who came seeking publicity and a jump start for their presidential bids.

There is one shot of a youthful Bill Clinton, photographed on a 1979 visit 13 years before he won the presidency, and the elder George Bush, captured in 1980, during his first run for the presidency, eight years before he was actually elected.