In DIXVILLE NOTCH, New Hampshire. Anybody ever heard of them?
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama emerged victorious in the first election returns of the 2008 presidential race, winning 15 of 21 votes cast in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire.
People in the isolated village in New Hampshire's northeast corner voted just after midnight Tuesday.
It was the first time since 1968 that the village leaned Democratic in an election.
Obama's rival, Republican John McCain, won 6 votes.
A full 100 percent of registered voters in the village cast ballots. And the votes didn't take long to tally.
The town, home to around 75 residents, has opened its polls shortly after midnight each election day since 1960, drawing national media attention for being the first place in the country to make its presidential preferences known.
However, since 1996, another small New Hampshire town -- Hart's Location -- reinstated its practice from the 1940s and also began opening its polls at midnight.
The result in Dixville Notch is hardly a reliable bellwether for the eventual winner of the White House -- or even the result statewide.
While New Hampshire is a perennial swing state -- with 4 Electoral College votes at stake -- Dixville Notch consistently leans Republican. The last Democrat it picked was Hubert Humphrey over Richard Nixon in 1968.
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