CONCORD, N.H. — Driving up from my parents’ house in southern New England, the snow banks grew larger, the fields and the trees weighed down with white. As I drove the country roads through central Massachusetts and into New Hampshire, I began to see how ridiculous this whole New Hampshire primary thing must seem to the rest of the country: the 19th century barns, the town squares with their Congregational Churches, the corner stores and the utter lack of Wal-Marts.

I’m from this part of the world, and my first newspaper job was in New Hampshire, and even I find it a little preposterous. But these people will help set the course, first for the Nevada caucus Jan. 19, and then the country.

There’s been more than a foot of snow here in the past two or three days, which tests a campaign’s mettle. As I was driving into Manchester, which is the primary’s ground zero, I noticed volunteers for Arizona John McCain putting signs into the fresh snow. No doubt there are signs all across the state buried in snow.

At the Radisson, rooms are going for $379 a night, and no doubt more in a couple days after the candidates rush here following Iowa. (I’m at a much more modestly priced Days Inn in Concord.)

This is their Consumer Electronics Show, the biggest show in town, though it only happens once every four years.

I went first into Concord, which is actually not unlike Carson City: Small, very livable and with a good coffee shop across the street from the capitol building, ala Comma Coffee.

Jim Pappas, who owns Caffenio, said Illinois Sen. Barack Obama had been in, and seemed a little mock surprised that he’d been the only candidate thus far. (John Kerry has a sweet tooth, he said, which seems somehow fitting.)

Pappas has a full head of white hair and like everyone here looks Boston Irish all the way. He declared himself undecided, which seems the cool thing to do. He may not decide until he steps in the booth, he said.

He’s looking for change, he said. The past seven years haven’t been great for small businss owners such as himself, he said.

Here’s a key fact to remember: Undeclared voters, meaning voters who aren’t in either party, are allowed to vote for whomever they please, and half of all New Hampshire voters are not undeclared, or “independent” as they say here (not to be confused with the party of the same name in Nevada, which is very fringey.)

Although he voted Al Gore and John Kerry, Pappas said he’s considering McCain.

McCain won the New Hampshire primary here in 2000. I was here, and the love affair between New Hampshire and McCain then was intense. It continues, clearly. New Hampshire voters, including Republicans, have this attitude like they made the right choice in 2000, while the rest of the country did not.

With all those independents up for grabs, McCain and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama seem to be fighting for that big pool of voters.

Obama’s appeal to independents is becoming a problem for McCain. See this L.A. Times story, for instance.

After coffee, I went back to Manchester to talk to some John Edwards’ folks.

Interesting word that former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes used when talking about Edwards’ advantage over his opponents. He said as a red-stater, it would be nice to nominate someone who “you wouldn’t be embarrassed to have at the top of the ticket.”

I didn’t ask him who might embarrass him because I didn’t need to.