Primary Day

Today was the day. So far, it looks as if John McCain won the primary, just like in 2004. Today was a busy day, but only for the early part of it. We all met up at 7:00 am and then took everybody to their campaigns. When I got to the Paul campaign, it was probably the busiest I’ve seen it. There were probably 100 volunteers in that little office. Many were phone banking, others getting ready to canvass. Craig asked me to help him set up the victory party at a hotel in Concord. We took many of the 4X8 signs to the event, as well as yard signs. I had the great pleasure of tromping in the 4 feet of snow to put the yard signs all the way down the road on which the hotel was. There was an AV company setting up the stage, as well as a band and the news cameras. Apparently, there were just a few cameras there from which all the major networks would get their footage. I helped set up the stage, setting some amplifiers up for the instruments and basically just being Craig’s right hand man. I guess my most enduring feat was climbing a 12 foot ladder to hang the Ron Paul banner.

It was interesting to watch it on TV because it’s much different when you’re really there. I stayed around the party until about 9:30 and then I knew it was gonna be a long night of picking people up, so I went to HQ to get Shadi, then trekked on to Manchester and Nashua to pick up those who needed a ride. I am ready to get back because I am very tired and am looking forward to sleeping in on Thursday. But this has definitely been a great experience. This class has been described as a once in a lifetime experience. I’m incredibly fortunate- for me it was a twice in a lifetime experience.

Monday madness....

Today was another exciting day on the campaign trail. I am starting to get used to the longer drive up to Concord, but at night it seems much longer drive home, probably because I am so tired. Today, when I arrived at the Ron Paul HQ, they were rounding up volunteers to go down to the Barley House Restaurant to do viz at a Huckabee event. They told me to go with them so I grabbed a sign and headed down there. When I got to the restaurant, I was blown away by the amount of people standing outside. After a while, the Ron Paul supporters started getting way to rowdy, shouting at Huckabee supporters and getting a little out of control. You can read about it here in this Boston Globe article; http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/08/mayor_fuels_talk_of_joining_08_race/
First in the crowd, I noticed GOP pundit and former Senate candidate Michael Steele. I made my way to him and chatted briefly and got a quick photo. Not long after that, I saw Chris Matthews from Hardball and snapped a quick photo with him. This is what I love about being up here for this. I mean I was in a crowd next to Michael Steel and Chris Matthews, and then Sean Hannity walked right by me with a microphone in hand and a camera crew in tow. Even though I’m not a fan of his, I still took a quick photo with him. He asked where I was from and I said Florida. He put the camera on me and the mike in front of me and interviewed me briefly about what I was doing here. I did not wake up this morning and think I was going to be interviewed by Sean Hannity. The crowd continued to get thick and throughout the morning I ran into Carl Cameron from FOX News, CNN’s Anderson Cooper, CBS’s Bob Schieffer, and former Senator Phil Gramm. At one point Hannity and Cooper crossed paths and chatted briefly. How amazing to see this two well-known tv personalities run into each other on the street and chat. After that exciting morning, I headed back to the campaign HQ where they had me drive with some other volunteers and put up giant 4X8 Ron Paul signs in intersections and other high traffic places. I really enjoyed today and am glad that I had a chance to mingle with so many well known people this morning.

Ron Paul 2008

The new hotel is better than the other in that the breakfast here is really a breakfast, with eggs, juice, fresh fruit, and potatoes. Our room is nice because it is in a suite with a living room and kitchenette. I let Paul have the bed and I will use the couch. After our breakfast, we headed to our placements, still in a little disbelief about what happened the day before. I’ve taken Shadi’s advice and decided to work on the Ron Paul campaign. He told me that at this campaign they have given him more important tasks than just phonebanking and I would like to have the opportunity to experience working on a campaign for a Republican. Actually, I tend to agree with many of Paul’s views, like more power to the states, ending the war in Iraq, strict fiscal conservativism, and limited federal government. I know this can seem like a contradiction coming from Joe Biden to Ron Paul, but there are more than enough things that I completely disagree with Paul on. Regardless, I thought that since I only have a few more days left here, I wanted to work on a campaign that was busy and active.


I’m glad I did.

On my first day at this campaign, they sent me and a few others to the studios of MCAM TV-23, Manchester Public Access to set up a town hall meeting with Dr Paul and undecided voters. It was great. I’ve never actually worked in a television studio and it was great to see how the producers design the sets and get ready to go on air. I thought it was interesting to see all of the other sets for the other shows in the building. We set up chairs in the room, and even created an overflow room with plenty of chairs just in case. The Paul people were a little worried that they would not be able to fill the entire room, but when the show went to air, there were people cramming in the halls to hear Dr Paul. As the event filled up, Kate asked me to stand by the door of the green room as security. It was very exciting. After a few minutes, a tall man standing next to me kept looking in the window. I wasn’t sure what, if anything I should do. Suddenly, another man walked up to the tall man and asked “Mr Goldwater, may I have your autograph?” It turns out I was standing next to Barry Goldwater Jr, a strong supporter of Ron Paul’s. It was great to be a part of this. Part one of the town hall meeting can be watched right here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxldrCsVByA&feature=user







with former Congressman Barry Goldwater Jr

Burning down the house....

I was asked before we left Florida what to expect on this trip since I was a part of the inaugural class in 2004. My reply was to expect the unexpected, and today was certainly unexpected. While having class early in the morning with Professor Dante Scala, we heard the fire alarms go off in the hotel. Though it peaked our interest, we continued to have our discussion with Dr Scala until we heard the sirens from the fire trucks. After we went outside, we saw that there was smoke billowing out from an upstairs boiler room. After a while, the fire department had cordoned off most of the building and we watched from across the street as they tried to put it out. Eventually, since there was nothing we could do, we departed for our campaigns, and awaited word from JSM who was to hear from the fire department as to what was going on, and when or if we could get our stuff. As soon as I got the last person dropped off in Concord, I received a phone call to round everyone back up and head back to Nashua to get our stuff.
We had to make two trips to the hotel because at first we were not allowed in our section because of the fire investigation. The hotel had arranged for us to stay at another hotel in Chumsford, MA, about 20 miles away. Those who could retrieve belongings did and we took them first to the new hotel.

It was pretty intense to see the damage done to the hotel. I have never seen anything like it. It looked like a disaster area, which it was. Ceiling tiles were on the floor, wires dangling from the ceiling, floor flooded with water. As we walked in the dark to our room, I was getting very nervous as I looked into the other rooms because they were completely destroyed and you could see other peoples belongings soaked or destroyed. Fortunately for Paul and me, our stuff was only wet, flooded by the hoses of the fire trucks. We got our stuff together and packed in the van and I helped others load their stuff. After we got it all together we made the trip back to Chumsford. I laid my stuff out to dry while I found the one washer and one dryer the new hotel had. Since it was in use, I resigned to let my clothes air dry and met up with some others at the tavern in the hotel to wind down and figure out what just happened. Needless to say, I did not make it to Huckabee today, and am reconsidering that anyway.

After Iowa

Well, a bit of sad news from New Hampshire. Senator Biden dropped out of the race last night, after a poor showing in Iowa. He and Senator Dodd both ended their campaigns last night. This was certainly unfortunate news for us at the Biden campaign. I was excited to meet Biden and came to New Hampshire to work for him. He was/is the only candidate I want to support. I have issues with the other candidates, especially the three front runners, and would probably not have come to New Hampshire if it was not for Biden. Now I must decide which other candidate I want to support, but am honestly having a bit of trouble with it because Im not that enthusiastic about any other candidate.

Today we visited the State House and Senate here in New Hampshire. The legislature of this state is the 3rd largest legislative body in the english-speaking world, next to the British Parliament and US Congress. We had a chance to tour the actual chambers which is pretty amazing. They are literally next door to each other. It was interesting to see the building because there is a lot of history there. After the tour, we split up into our groups and I drove the Manchester people to their offices, then I came back to Concord to see what was going on at the Biden HQ. When I got there, the door was locked, so I had to walk around to the other door and go in. The staff was in the office working on their computers and we all chatted briefly, agreeing that it was a bit of a surprise that we had such a poor showing, and that he dropped out so soon. We exchanged contact information, and wished each other good luck before I left.



So now I am considering other candidates for whom I would want to work. As I've discussed before, I am not too enthusiastic about any of the other candidates in the race. But, ironically, I am seriously considering Gov Huckabee. I am now in a position where I just must pick somebody so the reason I am considering him is because he is a Bass player and so am I. I saw him on TV playing with his band and he seems to be a competent bassist, and I respect that, because as a bassist, we are often the neglected members of the band, although we are one of the most important. Plus, he won Iowa and I dont want to see Mitt Romney win the Republican nomination, just on the offchance that he might win the presidency. With Mitt, I just dont see how somebody worth $200 million dollars can really be concerned about the average person. Plus, I like Chuck Norris and he is supporting Huckabee. So, I think I will now move to Mike. But nothing certain yet.

Go Joe!

Tonight are the Iowa caucases and we at the Biden campaign are hoping for a good show. We have all been working hard on the campaign and are counting on a surprise victory out of Iowa that will boost Joe's standing and help push him into a victory here in New Hampshire. Of course the polls indicate that Joe does not have much support, but tomorrow morning we will find out for sure. These last couple days here in New Hampshire have been pretty busy, both at the office and with our class.

Yesterday, Wednesday, we visited the New Hampshire Political Library and Museum. It was quite fascinating to see many of the things they had on display at the museum, like old campaign posters, buttons, flyers, and the like. There was a poster for a woman running for a city council position who was wearing her karate uniform and standing in a karate pose with the promise that she "would fight for you." Also on display was a table that has been used for several decades, perhaps a century or more, by candidates registering to run for office. Apparently they move it to the state House before the filing deadline so candidates can sign on it. After the museum we visited the state Democratic and Republican headquarters. It was interesting to visit these places and see what their function is during the primary. After our visit there, we went to our campaigns to do our work. I drove the group to Manchester, then I came back to Concord to work on the Biden campaign. At the hq, Ive been doing a lot of phone banking. Usually the people I call are cordial, but there has been a fair share of people that have not been so nice. I certainly understand how tiresome it must be to be bombarded with phone calls, but this is New Hampshire a week before the primary, so I would think that people would be a bit more understanding, if not receptive, to our calls. After a few hours of phone banking, some of the other interns and I drove to Manchester to deliver some supplies to supporters, and we handed out flyers for Senator Biden's appearance at the Merrimack Restaurant in Manchester this Sunday. The weather has been mostly tolerable, albeit freezing. We were only able to distribute flyers for about 45 minutes before the other interns wanted to go back to HQ.
When we got back we did more phone banking for a few more hours.

Today, we had breakfast at the hotel, and then jetted off to our campaigns. When I first got there, I did yet more phone banking, and then I had an opportunity to make posters for visibility during one of Senator Biden's events. I created a poster that said "In the Snow for Joe" with the colors green, gold and black- USF school colors. It was a hit at the office and they wanted me to create more. Around 7pm I left to begin rounding up other students for our Caucus Party at the restaurant downstairs. Currently, I am getting ready to go downstairs to the party, and hopefully Joe will do well. I worry that if he does not do too well in Iowa, he will not do to well here and may drop out after the New Hampshire primary next Tuesday.

January 1

We arrived in Manchester on Sunday, Dec 30. Professor McLauchlan and I picked up the vans which turned out to be a bit more comfortable than the vans in 2004. We had dinner together that night at restaurant 99, and then went to our rooms early to get a bright start the next day. Monday morning, we met downstairs for breakfast and decided that both of the vans would go to each of the campaign headquarters so that both drivers would know where everyone was at. We used our mapquest maps to get to each location, but quickly realized that some of the maps were unreliable. One of the students had a GPS system on his cell phone, which turned out to be of invaluable assistance. Eventually we got everybody dropped off for their first day at the campaign, but it was basically a short day because some campaigns closed down operations early because it was New Years Eve. That night we all met at the restaurant again to have our Road To the White House New Years Eve party. Later that night, some of the students hung out in a room and watched the celebration in Times Square.

We met for breakfast at 8:30 and had a discussion with Professor David Redlawsk from the University of Iowa via cell phone. He discussed the Iowa caucuses and explained how they worked. It was an interesting conversation and I learned a few things that I did not know about the caucuses. We headed out to our headquarters after the discussion, and had our first full day at our campaigns. I arrived at the Biden headquarters in Concord a little before 11. Julia, my supervisor, was watching CNN and noticed that reporter John King was reporting from the New Hampshire State House. She wanted three of us interns to go to where he was at to hold signs on TV, but when we got there, they were packing up and getting ready to go. A bad snowstorm was in the forecast and it had started to snow pretty bad so we went back to HQ where we phonebanked for a few hours. But the snow had continued to fall and she decided that she wanted the interns to leave before it got dark because she worried about us driving in the bad weather. After I finished my list of numbers, I returned to Manchester where I picked up the Kucinich, Obama, and Romney people, and then returned to Nashua. Tonight we were on our own for dinner, so I went to the restaurant and got a bite to eat. We have another full day tomorrow, so I will probably call it an early night again.