Peter Johnson, left, and Rick Erwin set up a booth for the scheduled first-in-the-nation presidential primary vote at the Balsams Resort on Monday in Dixville, N.H. (Matt Rourke / Associated Press)

Well, the game continues. New Hampshire is up to bat tonight—the first primary of the 2012 election season (sorry, Iowa, you’re just a caucus). New Hampshiremen and women are fully aware of their importance in this whole circus, and here’s a sum-up of why this primary matters. (That being said, there are plenty of articles out there claiming that NH doesn’t matter.)

Traditional thinking holds that if you win Iowa and NH, you’re more or less unstoppable. Romney should win easily tonight, although some pundits claim the margin by which he will win is shrinking by the hour. Apparently, its now Huntsman’s turn to shine. I’m not sure how seriously to take that news. This GOP race has had something of a flavor-of-the-day feel—everyone’s had their chance in the spotlight, maybe Hunstman’s turn just happens to be now. Well, I guess we’ll see.

In a more human-interest vein: one thing I love love love about the NH primary is the four-yearly spotlight on two tiny towns: Dixville Notch, NH and Hart’s Location, NH. See, Dixville Notch has 9 (no, really, 9)  registered voters, and Hart’s Location has 41. (If you only click one link in this post, it should be that one. It’s short, and it’s fabulous. Next election, I would love to travel to one of these towns for the primary. Who’s with me?)

Both villages opened their polling places at midnight, a tradition that began so railway workers could vote before their early morning shifts. -FOXNews (I know, I know)

Well, that’s all I’ve got. As usual, stay tuned somewhere other than here for real news and updates. FYI pbs.org has a good viewers’ guide to the NHP available.