McCain Tested by War, Economy in N.H.

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain answers a question about the war in Iraq while speaking at a town hall style meeting Friday, March 23, 2007, in Franklin, N.H. (AP Photo/Lee Marriner) (Lee Marriner - AP)

McCain's return to New Hampshire, including stops to northern cities, comes just a week after he visited southern and central parts of the state. During his previous campaign stops, he tried to retrieve his appeal among independent voters who had handed him a 19 percentage point win over then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush in the state's February 2000 presidential primary.

But things are hardly the same for him in New Hampshire as they were eight years ago, largely owing to his war support and local economic challenges.

A 120-acre pulp mill that had been Berlin's lifeblood was shut down last year, putting hundreds out of work and scrambling to find something else. "I'm not sure they have that many choices," state labor analyst Dana Cudworth.

McCain scheduled stops Saturday in that city, which has been a center for the logging and wood industries but now has an unemployment rate of almost 7 percent. Elsewhere in the state, it's about 4 percent.

Stuart Arnett, a former state director of economic development, said some state residents face an economic and cultural transition deciding what they want to be known for the next 100 years.

"The North Country isn't just paper mills," he said. "It might have been that way a hundred years ago, but not now."

Around the state, an uncooperative winter caused ski areas and bed-and-breakfasts to suffer. Snow didn't come until midseason. Logging operations also got a late start because the ground didn't freeze.

Home sales in Conway, where McCain was scheduled to speak to a Lincoln Day dinner on Saturday night, have slowed considerably. The warm weather inspired few ski or snowmobile purchases among those who usually take advantage of the nearby mountains and ski areas.

"This was the second or third year without a real winter," said Jac Cuddy, executive director of the Mount Washington Valley Economic Council. "We didn't get the snow."