Homebound From New Hampshire

Posted: Dec 04, 2007 3:25 PM
I'm still here in the nation's historic, idyllic first primary state. Sadly, the historic, idyllic snowfall of said state kept us from wandering as much of the state as we had planned on our short trip.

I called a cab company this morning to ask if they'd cart us over to Concord for a Romney event, and got something along the lines of, "I really wish I could because that'd cost you a lot of money, but I can't." The cab we called last night never showed up because it crashed on the way to the hotel. We caught a ride from someone else.

Instead, we stayed in Manchester soaking up the local color. We braved the cold-- which even the locals confirmed is actual cold and not just me being a wimp-- got some video, and interviewed local voters about their thoughts. The famously independent locals are also fairly reticent on their choices, most saying they're leaving the final selection for later.

We walked by the Kucinich office (a little storefront in downtown with a sign saying "Please Ring Bell 4 Kucinich Campaign) and happened upon the much larger Hillary office. We went inside, where we were met with four friendly volunteers and a decor akin to the one designed by my freshman year RA at Georgia. You know, that colorful, back-to-childhood motif likely concoted by an overzealous education major featuring everyone's photo and name inside stars and heart shapes. Perhaps the same person who designed the place is in charge of the genius attacks on Obama's spelling test record.

It also featured an unrealistically flattering black-and-white photo of Hillary in the stairwell. Like, more flattering than her book cover, if you can believe it.

I didn't take pictures or video there for fear of rousing suspicions in what must be a fairly tense time for Hillary's New Hampshire offices. I also didn't wear a bomb-like contraption strapped to my chest, which I think helped.

Seriously, though, in what must be a wary time for Hillary volunteers in New Hampshire, the volunteers were more than welcoming, and there were plenty of them. One volunteer talked of doing "visibility" this morning, standing around on a street corner with a Hillary sign. She took a wrong step and was up to her thigh in a snow bank. The travails of primary campaigning. Why don't we put Vegas and Florida first?

We'll have video from the whole trip up as soon as we get home. Next time, I'm renting a full-sized pick-up for transportation purposes.

We'll see if the weather allows for our flight to get out of here. If not, we'll totally be there for the McCain and Curt Schilling event tomorrow, where you can have "Your sports and politics questions answered by a world champion and the next President of the United States!" according to the signage.

Disclosure: MySpace paid my way to New Hampshire to cover the McCain event last night, but they've all left town and it's just Matt, and Geraghty and me left.