GOP presidential hopefuls celebrate Fourth of July by campaigning

Americans are getting ready to celebrate Independence Day with the usual parades, barbecues and fireworks. But for the field of GOP presidential hopefuls it will be a chance to supply their own fireworks and bring their best pitches to, well, you guessed it, parades and barbecues.

On July 4, New Hampshire, the first primary in the nation, will be thick with candidates, while some contestants will be in Iowa and even Philadelphia, where the second Continental Congress met and formally adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.

Both Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and the acknowledged front-runner in the field of GOP hopefuls, and Jon Huntsman, the former Utah governor who is struggling to break out of single digits in the polls, will be at the Amherst Fourth of July parade. Romney is slated to walk ahead in the first section of the New Hampshire parade, with Huntsman in a later grouping.

It was unclear if the pair will meet, though it could take work for them to avoid each other.

Romney is scheduled to campaign elsewhere in the state, on the Andover village green in the afternoon, before hitting his second parade in Laconia.

Huntsman seems to have gotten the better of the visit, planning on hitting two, yes two, barbecues in Belmont and Plymouth. He will also squeeze in a stop at a house party in Moultonborough.

Another political couple will meet across the country, in Iowa, home to the traditional first contest, the caucuses next year.

Michele Bachmann, rising fast in most polls, which show her a solid second, and Newt Gingrich, whose standing is sinking even more quickly, are scheduled to participate in the Clear Lake July 4th Parade. Bachmanm has been gaining ground in Iowa, positioning herself as the heir to the social conservative vote which has been seeking a home ever since former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee bowed out of the race.

The third pairing features businessman Herman Cain, who in some polls, has risen into double digits. He and John Bolton, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations who has not declared whether he will seek the nomination, will speak at the Independence Day Tea Party Rally in Philadelphia. Not exactly a parade or a barbecue, but within the constellation of the GOP, where the “tea party” movement is a major force, a meaty event, nonetheless.

Later, Cain will travel to New Hampshire to deliver perhaps the most intriguing pitch of all, throwing out the first baseball in the game featuring hometown favorites, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats.