I just got back from New Hampshire, slept for about 30 seconds, and am about to head out the door, but I wanted to give some quick hitters about the trip:
- Unexpectedly (to me at least), Dodd won the debate visibility by a mile. I was expecting the Dodd volunteers to be scrappy, energetic, and outnumbered. 2 out of 3 isn’t bad. There were more Dodd supporters than for any other candidate and they outshouted the other supporters by a wide margin.
- Obama apparently took a pass at debate visibility. No idea why.
- Hillary’s supporters decided to make a grand entrance later than the other candidates. It worked – they made a grand entrance. Then they stood in the back.
- Ron Paul had a supporter doing visibility. Again, no idea why. Also, I’m assuming that the Paul campaign did not sign off on the guy holding a Paul sign in one hand and “9-11 was an inside job” sign with the other. Just a guess.
- At the party after the debate, the Dodd staffers seemed upbeat and Congressman John Larson was fired up (Spazeboy will have video).
- Edwards had a raised platform on the street. Not to be outdone, Hillary had a 40 foot cherry picker covered in signs a block away (pictures later, thanks to Spazeboy).
- Hillary has jingles. I wanted to rip my eardrums out about 30 seconds after arriving across the street from her supporters. One supporter in particular would make an excellent Color War General (wikipedia seems to be broken at the moment, so if you don’t know what color war is, look up Summer Camp on the wiki).
- Dodd is leading the Senate on the War, on Habeas Corpus, on the Carbon Tax. So I thought he answered his question about broccoli futures (or whatever) very well (Note to CNN and other media outlets: Please be better at spreading the questions around).
- On the clock: There are many reasons why an underdog has a hard time gaining traction in a presidential election; money, name recognition, number of supporters, number of key supporters who provide infrastructure, etc. Does anyone else think that the media should be a counter balance to those factors rather than one of them? I’m sure they will discuss that tonight on CNN: Faith and politics: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards join CNN’s Soledad O’Brien for Monday’s special edition of “The Situation Room.”
More tonight (with pictures)!
5 responses so far ↓
Great stuff, Gabe! Can’t wait for the pictures. You’re right–the questions they asked Dodd (and everyone else) were pretty stupid. I especially hated the “Raise your hand if you like ______” questions. The Republican debate ought to be just as bad.
The idea of the internet debate ought to be revived. We had thought of it for the gubernatorial election last time around–wouldn’t it be great to compare two minute YouTube clips of each candidate answering a question on a substantive issue? Then candidates could issue a one-minute response if they wanted, to be posted later. Or something like that.
Finally, I shouted, “OK, how many of you have killed someone? Raise your hands. I mean, you know, actually killed someone.”
I raised my hand and looked around.
“No one but me? Then quiet down and listen. I have something to say.”
And for the first time since then, I now want to ask again, “How many of you who say you support the troops have killed someone for your country?
OK, then I have something to say.
http://www.connpost.com/columnists/ci_6040488
Pictures from New Hampshire
Videos from New Hampshire too.
Thanks for the report Gabe!
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