My Summer on the Campaign TrailMeeting the GOP Contenders

The crowds, literally and figuratively, are the same. Struggling mothers are concerned about health care, Vietnam veterans are concerned for soldiers returning from Iraq, and small business owners are worried about taxes, the minimum wage, and competing with big business. Hardened by decades of primaries, these New Hampshire citizens are as hard to move as the very granite that their home state is known for. Reporting from the ground for one of the earliest and most competitive Republican primary seasons in history, this is the story of my summer in New Hampshire.

My journey began on 495 North, with George (my die-hard conservative boyfriend), on our way to Manchester to meet Newt Gingrich at a Wal-Mart for a book-signing (for his new alternative history, Pearl Habor: The Story of December 8th). Despite his distance from the national political scene for almost a decade, Mr. Gingrich is still very popular within conservative circles. The very diverse crowd consisted of a teacher playing hooky, some College Republicans, a World War II Navy Veteran, and even a Vietnam helicopter pilot (who flew Ronald Reagan across the country during his failed 1976 primary campaign against Gerald Ford) that boasted he had posted a “Newt in ’08″ bumper sticker on his Jeep over a year ago.

Finally, Speaker Gingrich arrived, shook hands, signed books, took pictures, and encouraged supporters to join him later in the day at “The Chateau” (a ritzy banquet hall), where he was holding a seminar sponsored by Victory New Hampshire to introduce his pet project: “American Solutions Day.” Wanting more than just a signed book for a whole two-hour drive, we followed Speaker Gingrich to The Chateau, where after taking more pictures, shaking more hands, and signing more books, he captivated the friendly crowd in a way which few politicians could have emulated.

Gingrich unveiled his plan for American Solutions Day, scheduled for September 27th and 29th, 2007, and told the crowd that he wanted to hold an American Solutions Day meeting in all of New Hampshire’s 234 cities and towns in an effort to create a substantive dialogue about real challenges facing America; a plan that he believes will “revolutionize” American politics. Gingrich said that these solutions should focus on answering four important questions: How can we offer more choices? How can we offer higher quality? How can we lower costs? How can we offer greater convenience? Gingrich also emphasized the importance of building a strong majority for these proposals, and promote issues that are supported by at least 75 percent of voters, such as making English America’s official language.

He also used the opportunity to comment on some of the most important current events. Just days after the “Fort Dix Six” plan was uncovered to launch an attack on the American base, as Democrats debated how to exit Iraq, Gingich asked how long it would take for the Democrats to begin a “phased redeployment” from New Jersey. He also discussed the importance of abolishing the “death tax,” because, “it is cruel and unusual to have to go to the undertaker and the IRS in the same day.”

Addicted after our first taste, George and I decided to make New Hampshire our summer retreat and continued to hit the campaign trail. The next opportunity came in the form of CNN’s Republican Presidential Debate at St. Anselm’s college. Standing outside of St. Anselm’s auditorium where the debate was being held, we were surrounded by some of the most dedicated supporters of Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, and a surprisingly aggressive group of Ron Paul supporters.

Unable to get inside the debate, hosted by CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, we found a debate-watching party and reception for Mayor Rudy Giuliani at the Wayfarer Inn in Bedford, NH; most importantly, it was free (an idea other campaigns should adopt). During the debate, Giuliani received outstanding support from his crowd of supporters while John McCain, once the apple of all conservatives’ eyes, was jeered for his support of the McCain-Kennedy immigration compromise. After the debate, Mayor Giuliani joined the reception, thanked everyone in attendance for their support, and made some comments. During a short address to the crowd of supporters, Mayor Giuliani emphasized the importance of winning the War on Terrorism and commented on the Democrats’ reluctance to even mention “Islamic terrorism” in their debate—something they have yet to do—and discussed the importance of keeping taxes low so that the economy will stay strong. Clearly setting his targets on the senator from his own home state, it made me wonder—does Mayor Giuliani realize he has not won the Republican nomination yet?

After concluding his remarks, Mayor Giuliani was mobbed by his supporters for autographed Rudy signs, copies of Leadership (his book), and plenty of other Giuliani memorabilia. After getting our picture taken with Newt Gingrich on our first visit to New Hampshire, we began to methodically plan our next conquest: cornering Mayor Giuliani and taking a picture. We followed him around the stage, and as he began walking for the door we quickly tossed our camera to a Giuliani staffer who ushered us into a kitchen in the back. After being questioned by a security guard the size of New York State, we got our picture, a handshake, and a grumpy “thank you” from the man himself for supporting him. Mayor Giuliani, unlike Speaker Gringich, is not a personable politician—I did not expect Mr. Nice Guy but I would have at least appreciated some feigned enthusiasm. Ultimately, my biggest problem with Mayor Giuliani is his relationship with his family—America may have come to accept that Presidents have had mistresses, but I do not think that we are ready to have the mistress become First Lady.

Within a few weeks, we were back in New Hampshire. This time we attended the “Ninth Annual Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers Cookout” on July 7th. Expecting a crowd of businessmen and lawyers discussing the need for cuts on the income, death, payroll, capital gains, and dividends taxes, we were quite surprised to pull into the parking lot behind a Jeep Grand Cherokee with a picture of an AK-47 surrounded with the phrase: “It’s a Right, Not a Privilege.” It was an early indication that this was not going to be a meeting of country club Republicans; instead, the theme of the day was Ron Paul. Ron Paul Revolution signs, banners, tee shirts, and bumper stickers were everywhere the eye could see. As a biker gang rolled in, we realized they were all Ron Paul supporters. Even dogs and infants were dressed in appropriate Ron Paul swag. As images of Ron Paul and gun rights were continually re-affirmed, only one thing was clear—it should have been dubbed, “the Coalition of New Hampshire Gun Owners Cookout.”

Meanwhile, amidst the sea of Ron Paul supporters, a familiar voice came out of the crowd. One of Rudy Guiliani’s campaign staffers recognized us from the post-debate reception. As he looked for allies in the midst of a Ron Paul rally, he offered us Rudy Giuliani tee-shirts, bumper stickers and pamphlets detailing Rudy’s 12 “commitments to the American people” (sound a little like a contract with America?). We accepted them (tepidly I must confess) knowing that wearing these tee-shirts would not help us befriend Ron Paul’s apostles. After dispensing with lunch and the straw poll (which Ron Paul won with Nixon in ’72 fashion) it was time to hear from the candidates.

While listening to local and state candidates drivel on about the need to replace so and so with a limited government Republican candidate next term, we noticed that the first Presidential candidate had just arrived: Mike Huckabee. Still in our Rudy shirts, we walked over to him to say hello, sign his “From Hope to Higher Ground: 12 STOPS to Restoring America’s Greatness”, and wished him luck. Recognizing it would be difficult to get too warm of a welcome from Governor Huckabee while wearing a tee shirt supporting one of his main rivals, we changed into MCLA Conservative Union (a group George leads at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts) tee shirts, featuring the “Viva la Reagan Revolution” design. Needless to say, he was much happier to take a picture with us after our change of attire.

We returned to the stage in time to see fourth-tier grass-roots Republican presidential candidate: John Cox. Cox discussed Senator McCain’s comments that Congress “spends money like drunken sailors” by observing that at least drunken sailors spend their own money.

Next, Governor Huckabee took the stage and began to talk about his support for the Fair Tax. Huckabee discussed how currently, whenever the IRS accuses an American of tax evasion, they are considered “guilty until proven innocent.” I found it interesting that Huckabee had established himself as a second-tier candidate by endorsing a complete revision of the tax system that has little chance of ever passing and sounds crazy to the establishment. But then again, he is right about the Fair Tax’s being a much better plan than our current system.

Now highly addicted to the New Hampshire political process, we went to see former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney on July 22nd. Our first stop was “Memories Ice Cream” in Kingston, New Hampshire. Mission Accomplished. After we ate two of the biggest “small” ice cream cones in the Western Hemisphere, Governor Romney arrived along with his beautiful wife, Ann. The former Governor and Mrs. Romney went through the crowd shaking every hand, taking every picture, and signing every book and magazine along the way. Afterwards, Governor Romney got behind the counter and began scooping ice cream for the crowd. While he was there, I took the opportunity to talk to Mrs. Romney, who told us how much she enjoyed being on the campaign trail with Mitt, and how all of the people she had met in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina had been so nice. After a few minutes, Governor Romney reappeared at the window and took the order of his wife, and as the two of them stared at each other under the window, it was still very clear that they were both in love and were having fun even after decades of marriage - now that is the family that I want to see in the White House.

Afterwards, while the Romneys headed to another meet-and-greet, we headed ahead to Exeter for Governor Romney’s “Ask Mitt Anything” Town Hall meeting. Once he arrived, Governor Romney discussed his plans to rebuild the Republican three-legged stool of a strong military, a strong economy, and strong families. Specifically, Governor Romney proposed increasing the size of our military to maintain our defense superiority, returning to our federalist principles and allowing the people, not judges, to decide issues like abortion and gay marriage, enforcing our immigration laws, keeping taxes low, reducing government spending, protecting free markets, and making government more accountable. The crowd, mostly Republicans and independents, was very enthusiastic about Governor Romney’s message and, with the exception of an environmental group that opposed Governor Romney’s support of drilling in the Article National Wildlife Refuge and a group of anti-war advocates, seemed very excited about the possibility of Romney’s leaving the unemployment rolls on January 20, 2009. If it were not for McCain-Fiengold’s stripping me of my freedom of the press, I might say that “President Romney” does not sound like a bad idea.

The last candidate I saw in New Hampshire was a sad version of the John McCain we all once loved. We attended his town hall meeting at Keene Country Club on July 25. It was incredibility sad to see him so disheartened by a beating in the news and the polls. Just another senator from Arizona who should have been president. He clearly had been in New Hampshire before and had the list of local dignitaries as supporters to thank for it. However, that does not seem like it will be enough to revitalize his campaign. In 2000 he was the rebel candidate when America wanted establishment; in 2008 he is the establishment candidate when America wants a rebel. Neither will his self-deprecating humor, as evidenced by his joke about the night he lost the South Carolina primary to Bush in 2000. “I slept like a baby that night—slept for five minutes, cried for a half hour, slept for five minutes, cried for a half hour.” One thing his campaign did have right was there posters saying he was an American Hero—as evidenced by the fact he still cannot raise his arms above his shoulders. I will always appreciate McCain as a great American hero who has given his entire life to public service, but I doubt he will become our president in this lifetime.