U.S. highways and the towns that line them have long since been eclipsed by the Interstate and strips of EconoLodges and Burger Kings. For modern cruise-control motorists, the fractured skeleton of the U.S. highway system has been relegated to the realm of the cultural archaeologist, a reminder of how Americans used to travel before the age of the jug handle and the clover leaf.

U.S. Highway 202 runs right through the town of Epsom, N.H., only half an hour from industrial Manchester and all its pre-primary hoopla. But the satellite trucks and microphone-wielding correspondents never found their way into Epsom, a town in which the police headquarters bears a striking resemblance to a gas station.

Epsom seems torn between the commercialism of the fast food joints on its rotary and the amicability of a general store where the man behind the counter greets customers by name.

The accompanying are portraits from Epsom, visual and written records of the politics of a small New England town long forgotten by the culture of the Interstate.

Sue Flagler and her mother, Helen Lord, are eating a late lunch together at the McDonald's on the rotary. Their conversation revolves around tableware, although their voices are often muffled by the birthday party of small children in the next room. Flagler works in special education at a public school in Keane, near her home in Richmond, N.H., just outside Keane. She describes her mother, a resident of Vermont, as a "dyed-in-the-wool Republican," although Lord says she will not vote for Bob Dole because the senator is too old.

"I really think that the Republican pack is no one that I'm interested in.... My family kids me that I'm a closet Republican 'cause I do have conservative blood running through my veins but I just can't get warmed up to any of the Republicans. Social issues, I think the Republicans are just too conservative, and I can't deal with the Christian right, they really just freak me right out.... Pat Buchanan I think is totally frightening. I think Bob Dole is too old. I think he's kind of a neat old guy, like if he was your father or something.... And I don't love Clinton, but I can't not vote.... I really like there to be a candidate to get excited about, and I haven't felt that way; you know, I've never felt that way since I've been voting--that's pretty bad. In 20 years I've never been psyched about anyone, never really excited."

Larry Nickerson is the proprietor of the Gossville General Store, situated just off United States Highway 202. A native of Nova Scotia, Nickerson moved his wife and two children to Epsom from Gloucester seven years ago. His son will soon graduate high school and hopes to attend Bentley College in Waltham. The Frito-Lay man, accompanied by his two daughters, walks through the door and past the sign in the window listing the fees for various hunting permits. As the guardian of the potato chip aisle attends to his business, Nickerson writes up the transaction without the assistance of a computer billing package.

"I'm leaning for Steve Forbes... My first choice was Pat Buchanan, but I think right-wing stuff there, the extremist groups kinda hurt him. And I think that he won't make it past Clinton. They'll vote for Clinton first. I think Alexander, $1 into $620,000, all that is just payoffs, so he's a typical politician....

"And Bob Dole, he's just an old washed-in politician, he's gonna make some changes but he ain't gonna make a lot. That brings you back to Forbes with his flat tax, I think the IRS is way out of whack. Nobody understands it, the little guy gets ripped off on that, the rich guy is always gonna be able to survive because he's smart enough to know where to put his money....

"Get somebody that's been smart at running a business. And I know [Forbes] had a lot his money inherited, but he's done a lot with it, he didn't just waste it and put it down. It seems like he's done a lot. He's stayed married for 25 years and all that good stuff, so, I don't know if that's good thing [laughs].... I'd best leave that one alone [laughs], oh golly...."

Kathy Holmes teaches kindergarten at a religious school in Epsom. She has been a volunteer for Lamar Alexander since last spring, and points to her checkered skirt as evidence of her commitment. A devout Baptist, she regularly attends church, where the pastor has been preaching on the Book of Corinthians for almost a year.

"Well, we're certainly not ambivalent. We're concerned that we have Clinton in the White House, and are hoping that a Republican will be able to remedy that....

"I wished [Alexander] would run for president, didn't think he would, then he said he would and I started to get excited, then John McLauglin said that he wouldn't be surprised if Lamar was the one, and then I got it in the realm of realness, and volunteered.... I stuffed some envelopes, went around some neighborhoods, I rode my bike around my neighborhood and dropped off some brochures. The other thing about him that I like is that he wants to push local control, and in New Hampshire we've certainly learned that that's the way to get rid of as much waste as possible. Because if you're right close to it, you see it, and if you're not there, how can you hope to grasp it?"

Brent Blackey, 21 years old, lives in Pittsfield, a couple miles up the road from Epsom. A veteran of the construction business, he now pumps gas at Getty for those who can afford the relative luxury of a full-service filling station. Married to a manager at the McDonald's located just around the rotary, his immediate goals include buying a house and raising his six-month-old daughter. A car pulls up to the pumps, and Blackey curses under his breath. The view from behind the nozzle isn't pretty:

"The Congress and the president, they're all, everyone's making a mess. We're the ones that suffer for it, the taxpayers.... Get rid of the Congress' salary, that's the first thing.... Get rid of the president altogether, he don't seem to do much if you ask me....