36 Hours In Campaign Country

This small rugged state teeming with presidential aspirants offers visitors unique proximity to question, praise, berate or hug the next American president.

IMG_5865

The presidential campaign has been running in high gear for months, but New Yorkers see it only from afar.  Candidate visits to New York are almost entirely out of public view, primarily for fundraising and TV appearances.  New Yorkers hoping to see candidates in person can visit campaign country, however, with New Hampshire the closest corner of campaign country and just a short drive away.

Sunday 8:15 a.m. – On The Road

Meet a fellow reporter just north of New York City and drive through western Connecticut north into Massachusetts.  Watch for the plentiful state troopers on I-91.  Don’t let the genius political arguments bandied about distract you from the speedometer.

Sunday 11:00 a.m. – Your New Friend Irving

A stop awaits before the first campaign event – a visit to an Irving, the ubiquitous gas station/convenience store.  Gourmet it’s not, but Irving offers a quick, clean stop for hot coffee, cold seltzer and a cellophane wrapped sandwich.  With lots of driving between five events efficiency is a key to success.  Pro-tip: Always get two sandwiches, one for now, one to tuck in your bag for a pre-candidate town hall boost.

Sunday 1:00 p.m. – Dr. Ben Carson

Keene State College is dead quiet on a Sunday morning, notwithstanding an imminent presidential candidate appearance.  With Secret Service protection and security screenings for Carson, entering his town hall is a lengthier process.  About 30 minutes ahead of his town hall, only 30 or so people are in the auditorium.  “Don’t worry, they’ll be here after church” says an early arrival and indeed a crowd of 200+ materialized by 1:00.  Chatting with attendees it appears that his audience is significantly centered around faith, both their own and Carson’s.

Carson - Keene, NH 12-20-15

Continue reading 36 Hours In Campaign Country

Democratic Field Ops

Claremont, NH 1-5-16It’s not just Trump land.  Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have field offices in downtown Claremont, New Hampshire, which I happened upon ahead of Donald Trump’s rally Tuesday evening.  Both storefront offices were quiet during my mid-afternoon visits, with three people working in the Sanders office and one in the Clinton office.   I received a friendly, if slightly wary, reception in both.  Sanders had the better art, with some eye-catching candidate-worship pieces while Clinton featured a life-size candidate photo/cutout.  Clinton also had a donation basket for a local food bank.  I didn’t see any other candidate offices in town.

Here are a few photo’s from each:

Sanders

Clinton

Our photo gallery is here.

Trump Q&A

“Just shout ’em out” –  that was Donald Trump as he took questions during a recent New Hampshire rally.

Trump rallies are generally all-Trump, with the candidate speaking at length without taking questions.  He departed from that practice Tuesday night, inviting audience members to shout out questions.  They joined in, with questions ranging from the conclusory (whether he’s “willing to lower standards like Hillary Clinton” in order to have women serve in the Army and Marine Corps infantry), to basic fact inquiries (is he “pro-life”, does he support term limits, is he in favor of medical marijuana, whether he “believe[s] in equal pay for women”), to campaign sloganesque (“when are we going to take our country back?”).

Here’s his full audience Q&A:

Trump Talks Trump

Donald Trump’s New Hampshire rally Tuesday night featured lots of discussion of … Donald Trump.

Candidates vary in how much talk about themselves, but it’s certainly an important part of their presentation to voters as they introduce and seek to distinguish themselves in this crowded field.  Donald Trump does it with a particular gusto, displaying a high self-regard as  he touts his standing in public polls and his brainpower and lauds his audience and supporters.  Often funny in his comments, his candidacy is essentially about his self-described ability to fix what he sees as wrong with America through force of personality.

Here are selected excerpts of Trump discussing Trump:

Trump Returns To New Hampshire

Trump - Claremont, NH 1-5-16Donald Trump returned to New Hampshire Tuesday night, for one of his seven rallies over a nine day stretch.  Appearing in Claremont, New Hampshire, Trump spent an hour in his now-familiar pattern of bemoaning the state of America, reading through favorable polls and riffing with his audience.  Tuesday’s rally had the additional element of taking shouted (and unscreened) questions from the audience.

Trump - Claremont, NH 1-5-16The paired gym and auditorium in Claremont’s Stevens High School were full, with 1,000+ people who waited outside in bitter temperatures.  The audience seemed to have a high percentage of Trump supporters, rather than people still considering other candidates, but was often more listening than roaring.  The 2/3 or so of the audience who stood on the gym floor were on their feet for three hours or more between the wait outside, the time waiting for Trump (who began almost an hour after the scheduled start time) and Trump’s hour on stage.

Trump - Claremont, NH 1-5-16

Video:  Here is Trump’s complete town hall.

Photo Gallery:  Our Claremont photo gallery is here.

Kasich Continues

Kasich - Keene, NH 12-29-15Ohio governor and Republican presidential candidate John Kasich continues campaigning vigorously in New Hampshire, holding on to possibility but not yet moving into the top group of Trump alternatives.  Kasich, heavily focused on New Hampshire, closed out 2015 with two New Hampshire town halls Tuesday, in Nashua and Keene.

Drawing respectable audiences of 50-60 people on a slick snowy day Kasich worked his basic message on both groups.  (Jeb Bush cited weather in canceling a town hall midway between Kasich’s two appearances.)  He touts his substantial experience in both federal and state office (as a member of the House and as Ohio governor), with a focus on fiscal accomplishments in both.  He also preaches a more moderate tone than many of his rivals, emphatically saying that legislative successes depend on working cooperatively with Democrats.

IMG_5751

He often connects well with his audiences, listening to their questions and engaging in conversation.  He veers off into some disconnected, even awkward, moments though.  In Nashua he let loose with a seeming genuine rant about the dangers of drugs.  All true and all good advice but his audience, including the college-age questioner who prompted it, is well-aware of that truth and his rumbling ruminations added little to their views.  In Keene Kasich gleefully noted that he was headed to directly to Florida for a family vacation, with warm-weather golfing scheduled for the next day.  It seemed a bit odd as a selling point to New Hampshirites settling in to the beginnings of winter.

Town Hall Video:

Nashua (full):

Keene (Q&A only):

Photo Gallery:  Our photo gallery of both town halls is here.

Kasich On Puerto Rico Fiscal Crisis

Kasich - Keene, NH 12-29-15Ohio Governor John Kasich punted on the topic of whether Puerto Rico should be given the legal authority to file for bankruptcy protection.  Puerto Rico, overwhelmed by more than $70 billion of debt owed by the Commonwealth and some of its agencies and municipalities, is seeking the ability to file a bankruptcy petition.  Current law precludes Puerto Rico, as well all of the states, from filing a bankruptcy petition.  Unlike states however, which may authorize their municipalities and agencies to file petitions under Chapter 9 of the federal bankruptcy code, Puerto Rico is also precluded from allowing its municipalities and agencies from filing bankruptcy petitions.  With the first significant default on Puerto Rico’s debt having just occurred, the situation is likely to rapidly deteriorate.

Kasich initially referenced Puerto Rico’s status by saying that bankruptcy would require statehood.  That’s not quite right, however, and allowing Puerto Rico to be treated like a state (i.e. permitted to authorize its municipalities and agencies to file, but not itself authorized to file) would only require a very simple (albeit consequential) change in the federal bankruptcy code.  Kasich’s brief response then moved to a quick statement that he would put “people in a room” to discuss solutions and concluding that he’s “not prepared to say… yet” that bankruptcy is an appropriate solution.

The day after our conversation Kasich’s campaign announced the selection of a “chair for Governor Kasich’s newly created Puerto Rico team.”*  The announcement references “the importance of permanently resolving Puerto Rico’s status issue” (whether continuing as a commonwealth, becoming a state or an independent nation), but makes no mention of Puerto Rico’s fiscal crisis.  While status seems likely to be discusses as part of any federal action on bankruptcy or otherwise dealing with Puerto Rico’s debt, it’s a distinct topic without direct bearing on the fiscal crisis.

I spoke with Kasich following a presidential campaign town hall in Keene, New Hampshire.

 

Note:  Puerto Rico does not participate in the presidential general election, but presidential primaries are held in Puerto Rico.

Kasich Of The North

Ohio Governor John Kasich ribbed an absent Jeb Bush this evening, noting Bush’s cancellation of a town hall in Peterborough, New Hampshire due to snow.  Kasich held a town hall this afternoon in Nashua, New Hampshire, driving through Peterborough on his way to an evening town hall in Keene.  (I drove the same route, encountering a few inches of snow and some slick surfaces but finding it completely passable.)

Here’s what Kasich had to say, both as he concluded his town hall and when I spoke with him afterwards.

Kasich Q&A

Tamir Rice dominated Ohio Governor John Kasich’s post-town hall press Q&A this afternoon in Nashua, New Hampshire.  The 12 year old boy was killed last year by a Cleveland police officer and the announcement that the officer will not be criminally charged has sparked protests and outrage from many people.  As Ohio governor Kasich is not directly involved in the case, but it’s a major issue in his state.

Kasich urged calm, voiced respect for the right to protest and described steps he’s taken in the aftermath of the November 2014 shooting.  Kasich said that he intends to review standards and training for police dispatchers.  When asked, Kasich stated that he has no immediate plans to return to Ohio.  He’s been campaigning in New Hampshire for the past couple of days and heads to Florida this evening for a family vacation.

Trump In Nashua (Updated)

Trump Nashua, NH 12-28-15He came, he mused, he communed.

Donald Trump came to a rally in Nashua, New Hampshire Monday night, musing on the state of the country, communing with his audience over their anger at lots of things and urging his audience to vote in the upcoming primary even though he wasn’t quite certain of the date.

While he drew a smaller crowd than at some of his past events Trump nonetheless had a large crowd.  Held in a middle school gym the rally drew about 700-800 people, including 150 or so in an overflow room.  For comparison, that total roughly equals the total audiences at five separate candidate town halls I attended last Sunday and Monday (with Carson, Christie, Rubio, Kasich and Bush).

Trump Nashua, NH 12-28-15

Continue reading Trump In Nashua (Updated)

Glass Steagall, Crimes & A “Dirtbag” (Updated)

IMG_5627“I’ve got a few questions for you, then I’d like to make a statement and have you respond to the statement.”  So began a lengthy back and forth between Jeb Bush and a man at his Alton, New Hampshire town hall Monday night.

Bush’s questioner, who identified himself as Joe Castagnaro from Gilford, New Hampshire, had some preliminary questions on term limits, taxpayer funded elections and ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council) but his deepest focus was on Wall Street “crimes” and the repealed Glass-Steagall Act.  His description of asking Hillary Clinton whether she “would she reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act that her dirtbag husband repealed” drew some giggles from Bush and the audience.

Castagnaro passionately described the 2008 financial crisis as not a “bubble … crisis … [or] meltdown” but a “crime” that bankers should be in jail for.  He also declared that “when you’re president you’ll take your orders from” Wall Street.

Bush demonstrated some political deftness in the exchange, engaging his questioner and somewhat adopting the questioner’s concerns, but the moment also illustrates why Bush has had such a rough time.  He’s more naturally attuned to the financial services industry goal of deregulation than to the visceral anger and distrust of a man who has had his home foreclosed on.  That anger is the dominant pulse of the 2016 race and it’s just not Bush’s.  It’s also the case that Bush and his questioner fundamentally disagree on increasing financial regulation.  While both appear to want credit to be more readily available to borrowers, in reality they represent fundamentally different approaches.  Bush seeks a freer market, believing that will allow banks and other lenders to flourish with a resulting bounty of credit. His questioner appeared to believe that stricter regulation and control of banks, accompanied by increased criminal prosecutions, is  the path to easier credit.  While those views share a rejection of the recent past and current market, they’re ultimately dramatically divergent.

His town hall was well done in a nice setting with solid production and a crowd that perfectly packed the modest sized room to capacity, but this exchange ultimately demonstrates that he’s trying to grab onto the current Zeitgeist, not generating it.

Toward the end of their exchange Castagnaro said there’s “nothing I would rather do than vote for you”, but that the only two candidates tuned in to his view of “taking down the Wall Street banks” are Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders.

Insight, analysis and reporting on New York and national politics