Primary season opened with a bang and then a fizzle.

On this week's On the Media, we explore the history of how we pick our presidential candidates,

and we unpick some of the myths surrounding New Hampshire's first in the nation status.

Voters in Dixville Knottes will vote at midnight in a picture postcard town just shy of the Canadian board.

He brought in an elephant into the hotel.

This is Popsicle, a 700-pound baby elephant.

It is absurd that 42 people have this kind of power.

I think it's nice.

Do you?

I think it's democracy, it's purest.

For weeks, it was just all day, every day.

You were at events and events and events and just driving all over the place, talking to the candidate, talking to their campaign.

I mean, it was just, it's a frenzy.

You end up verging into a little bit just being part of the First Nation Industrial Complex.

Wouldn't be surprised if this is the last real New Hampshire primary, but that's a debate for another day, I guess.

Stay tuned for the primaries, past, present, and future.

From WNYC in New York, this is On the Media. I'm Bob Garfield.

And I'm Brooke Gladstone.

30 years ago, I was teetering on the brink. Either I'd get a fellowship that would yield a reporting job in Moscow, or I'd be stuck in a job that was making me miserable. I just couldn't bear not knowing what the future held. So, I threw the coins of the ancient Chinese book of wisdom and divination, the

I Ching, and the result was foreseeably orphic and abstruse. Still, I decided the portents were good,

and I felt better, and I'm not embarrassed. We all do it, and weirdly, it may feel even better, surprisingly soothing,

if the magic eight ball says, reply hazy, try again, which seems to be the lesson of Iowa.

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