DIXSVILLE NOTCH, N.H. -- Republican President Bush and Democratic Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas won Tuesday in Dixville Notch, a town of 39 residents that casts and counts its ballots in the New Hampshire primary just after midnight.
However, Libertarian candidate Andre Marrou got the biggest support among Dixville Notch's 31 voters, winning 11 votes.
Ten Democrats and Republicans crossed party lines and voted for Marrou in the Libertarian Party primary, and a Republican wrote in Marrou's name on a GOP ballot.
Since 1964, every registered voter in the mountain community 25 miles south of the Canadian border has voted in the early hours of New Hampshire's primary day.
Just after midnight, officials closed the polls and released the results several hours before the other New Hampshire precincts opened.
Among Republicans, Bush beat conservative challenger Patrick Buchanan, 9-3. Consumer advocate Ralph Nader got three write-in votes from Republicans, and former Sen. Paul Tsongas, D-Mass., got one write- in from a GOP voter.
On the Democratic side, Clinton got three votes and Tsongas one.
Voter Rick Tillotson, a 45-year-old Republican, said there are too few Democrats in Dixville Notch to accurately measure the Democratic race. But he said the town's GOP voters usually provide a good barometer of views held by the state's Republicans.
'I expected Bush to win on the Republican side, but I was surprised that Andre Marrou carried the most votes overall,' Tillotson said from the lobby of Balsams Hotel, where the town votes.
Tillotson attributed Marrou's strong showing to an effective campaign stop by the Libertarian candidate. Tsongas, Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Buchanan also visited Dixville Notch.
Bush bypassed the town. Stopping in Dixville Notch on his behalf was former White House chief of staff John Sununu, who is also a former New Hampshire governor.
