TOUGH ON STRANGERS:

 In 1964 a successful write-in effort for Henry Cabot Lodge, then ambassador in Vietnam, undermined his fellow liberal Republican, Nelson Rockefeller.

Lodge enjoyed what seems to be a considerable advantage in New Hampshire: He was from neighboring Massachusetts. Other Massachusetts winners include Democrats John Kennedy in 1960, Michael Dukakis in 1988, Paul Tsongas in 1992 and John Kerry in 2004. Mitt Romney hopes to add another Republican name to the list this year.

If New Hampshire voters like Bay Staters, they have been skittish about backing Southerners. Lyndon Johnson won only narrowly as incumbent president in 1968, and the lowest winning percentages in any contested race have been scored by Jimmy Carter of Georgia in 1976 and Pat Buchanan of Virginia in 1996.

The big exception to this rule was George H.W. Bush of Texas, who was born in Massachusetts and grew up in Connecticut. He lost New Hampshire to Ronald Reagan in 1980 but won it in 1988 and 1992.

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