New Hampshire Primary: Why the election is vital for anyone dreaming of the White House

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After all the talk and hyperventilaing and hype, it is finally here.

On Tuesday night, voters in New Hampshire, the so-called Granite Schools, go the polls to select their preferred candidates for both the Republican and and Democratic parties. Unlike the caucuses in Iowa, where people gathered in gyms and even people's homes to listen to conversations about who they should vote for, New Hampshire is more like a normal vote.

And as The Independent's US Editor David Usborne explains, there is nothing quite like it.

From here the remaining candidates head to South Carolina and Nevada. But if they have any hope of winning this thing, they need to make a good showing here. With the exception of Bill Clinton in 1992 (who came second in New Hampshire) no president in recent history, has made it to the White House without winning in either Iowa or New Hampshire.