New Hampshire voters celebrate New Year with politics

LONDONDERRY, New Hampshire (Reuters) - Opening your home to dozens of strangers -- including TV crews, journalists, campaign workers and a presidential hopeful -- might not be everybody's idea of a fun way to celebrate New Year.

But this is New Hampshire -- a state where a 7-year-old will stand quietly and listen to a man 10 times her age talking about politics under the Christmas tree for over an hour.

Most White House hopefuls were in Iowa in the last few days before it opens the presidential nominating battle on Thursday. But Arizona Senator John McCain was focused on the other early voting state, New Hampshire, which holds its primary on January 8.

Teacher Katie Wolff brought her two daughters to a McCain house party in Londonderry on New Year's Eve. While 4-year-old Alison was wriggling on the hallway stairs, 7-year-old Elizabeth stood a few feet from McCain as he discussed terrorism, climate change, the economy and Iraq.

"I thought he was interesting, that he really wanted to help the country," Elizabeth said, rattling off a list of Democratic hopefuls she has also seen in person -- Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

Around 70 or 80 people attended the party hosted by Dan and Terri Synborski, a finance company owner and a nurse who moved to New Hampshire from Pennsylvania more than 20 years ago.

Their daughter Andrea, 22, suggested the party after meeting McCain's campaign staff through her work for the One Campaign, an alliance of more than 100 charities that is pressing all the White House hopefuls to fight global poverty.

"It just kind of mushroomed," said Terri, 49.

They sent invitations to neighbors and co-workers and were a little surprised to see an announcement in a local newspaper, and then a pair of TV trucks and a dozen or more journalists.

"There were a lot of people I don't know. It's a worry to some extent, but they were here to see him," she said.

McCain was joined at the party by his wife Cindy, returning to the campaign trail after a six-week break for knee surgery.

"New Hampshire demands house parties," said Cindy McCain, who sported a jeweled "McCain 2008" pin on her lapel.

"It's much more intimate, you get to see the people and talk to them," she told Reuters. "You don't get elected here unless you do house parties."

A few hours later McCain was shaking hands and posing for snapshots with more than 100 voters at another house party in the coastal town of Rye, where host Bill Gilmore opened his sprawling home to guests in fur coats and expensive cars.

Twelve-year-old Samantha Lowell, who was assigned to coat-check duty while another relative tended bar, said she was overwhelmed when 20 people arrived at the same time.

"We've had a lot (of parties) and I always do the coats, she said. "It's nice, we always have not really famous but important people."

One party at her step-father's home was attended by Dan Brown, author of "The Da Vinci Code," who has a home in the neighborhood.

"We were going to have Obama but he said he couldn't come," she said.

(Editing by Chris Wilson)