Democrats, who account for 25.6 percent of registered voters, are the group that changed the most with the influx of new residents, said Andrew E. Smith, a political scientist and director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center. In contrast to the blue-collar union members whose predominantly Roman Catholic background made them conservative on some social issues, he said, the new New Hampshire Democrat is a "Volvo Democrat," well off and socially liberal. Twenty years ago, about a quarter of Democratic primary voters here labeled themselves liberal, Mr. Smith said; in 2000, more than half did.

Former five-term Vermont governor and current Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, 54 years old, looked as amazed as everyone else in the room that this Thursday-night gathering, what should have been another sedate Westside fund-raiser, had suddenly taken on the rambunctious energy of an Animal House toga party. …

The sea of Swedish cars flooding north of Montana and frenetically searching for parking made it seem that every Volvo Democrat west of La Cienega was on hand.

Tennessee and Oklahoma: Tsongas won't find many of his Volvo Democrats here: Relatively downscale, less well-educated states should reward Clinton with substantial margins.