Clawing his way to victory

Nin, the mascot for Mount Washington Observatory for a dozen years, retired last month, leading to Tuesday's election. (ASSOCIATED PRESS/MOUNT WASHINGTON OBSERVATORY)

New Hampshire had two primaries of widespread interest Tuesday.

Primary number one was the political primary in which Republican and Democratic candidates for president of the United States were endorsed.

Primary number two was the online balloting to select from three candidates the top cat to assume the post of mascot at the Mount Washington Weather Observatory.

Over 8,000 people cast votes in primary number two, and the observatory announced that the winner was a cat named Marty.

This cat will fill the vacancy caused by the retirement of Nin, the longtime feline mascot at the observatory who left the mountain Dec. 26.

Her retirement generated headlines in such newspapers as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and the San Francisco Chronicle, and led to the observatory deciding to have its own primary on Tuesday.

The contest's slate of three cats was selected with the assistance of the Conway Area Humane Society.

The results of Tuesday's voting were: Marty (53 percent), Wilson (26 percent), and Sarah (21 percent).

Photos and biographies of each of the candidates were posted on the observatory website, where Scot Henley, executive director of the observatory, said: "Observatory members have sent us newspaper clippings from a variety of places around the country where the story appeared - California, Arizona, Washington, Virginia, virtually everywhere. Personally I saw a photo of Nin on the cable news channel in Philadelphia."

Observatory officials also said the Nin story drew a large response from cat lovers nationwide.

"We have received over 70 e-mails and dozens of calls from people around the country looking to donate new cats," Henley said. "While we couldn't possibly accept those donations, we wanted to give the public a chance to help pick our new mascot, so we decided to hold this first-in-the-nation feline primary."

Incidentally, Nin, who is 17 or 18 years old, has taken up residence with two friends, Diane Holmes and Mike Pelchat, both rangers at Mount Washington State Park, who live in the town of Gorham, close to Nin's veterinarian.