VIDEO: The NH Primary Matters

It seems like so long ago, but New Hampshire was in the national spotlight in the presidential race last month.

Campaign managers from the top six Republican presidential campaigns took a look back at the 2012 New Hampshire Primary in a forum discussion on Wednesday, moderated by WMUR's James Pindell. The panel was held Wednesday at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College.

It included Jim Merrill of the Mitt Romney campaign, Andrew Hemingway of the Newt Gingrich campaign, Jared Chicoine of the Ron Paul campaign, Mike Biundo of the Rick Santorum campaign, Kerry Marsh of the Rick Perry campaign, and Sarah Crawford Stewart of the Jon Huntsman campaign.

Some of these campaign staffers disagreed on whether or not the primary was watered down this year, but they all agreed that New Hampshire is critical in the presidential race.

"The day of the Iowa Caucuses ended, that night the whole political universe headed to New Hampshire," said Bill Cahill, a co-chairman of the Santorum campaign in the state. "The Iowa Caucuses and NH primary are hooked together."

Perry's New Hampshire campaign manager admitted that her candidate payed dearly for ignoring the Granite State.

"My candidate spent the least amount of time in New Hampshire and I think it was a very big mistake," said Marsh.

Stewart said that the New Hampshire voter can be frustrating. For example, she had seen one grill her candidate, but later tell her that they are actually a supporter. They just wanted to challenge him.

Marsh added that many potential endorsers in the state were "gun shy" on who to choose and it took a long time to get certain endorsements.

Merrill recounted a day when Romney had to be grilled for almost an hour by a potential New Hampshire endorser before he earned their blessing. He said that it just goes to show how committed New Hampshire citizens are in learning about the candidates.

"He had to earn it," said Merrill.