The presidential campaign is starting in New Hampshire.
I am in New England this week, expecting to see Nikki Haley three times and Donald Trump once.
In two presidential cycles, 2016 and 2020, I have seen about 80 presidential campaign events in person and up close. It isn't hard to be in the front row -- just get there early. It is better to be a "citizen" than "media." Media is seated in the back.
This may be a skimpy season for political tourism. Joe Biden appears to be on the brink of making official his re-election campaign. Most candidates on the Democratic bench don't want to say aloud that Biden is old. They want to replace him but they don't disagree with him, so Biden freezes them out. Two candidates well outside the Democratic mainstream, Marianne Williamson and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., have entered the race. Each is "fringe," but in different ways. I expect them to visit New Hampshire to try to get traction. If one of them began drawing big, enthusiastic crowds, it could put pressure on Biden to announce that he has changed his mind. That would change everything. So, too, would the entry of a "mainstream" candidate.
In the GOP Nikki Haley is taking on Trump. Her website announces her planned Town Halls:
Donald Trump has one event. Trump will be speaking at Doubletree Hilton Hotel in Manchester at 4:30 in the afternoon on Thursday. If Trump starts on time and ends on time I can get to Haley's Thursday evening event.
Standard practice for candidate events is to make tickets available via eventbrite. You give them your email and phone number and they send an electronic ticket. They are free. From then on one gets three or four emails and text messages every day, hyping the candidate, asking for money, and selling merchandise.
Retro Haley tee shirts!!! Act now!!! Going fast!!!
I decided to stay in the hotel where the Trump event will take place. The event opens at 1:30 p.m. but the speech doesn't start until 4:30 p.m. My experience from prior campaigns is that Trump has warm-up acts and then a big introduction. All of that will give me time to count the audience, photograph the press, visit with the attendees, and survey the merchandise tables. Being at the hotel will make getting into the venue and negotiating the security easier. Trump will have Secret Service security. Other candidates will not, but there are always police around at campaign events. The hotel room rate jumped for the day of Trump's visit. Normally it would be about $150/day. On the day of Trump's event the room is $247.
An important figure in New Hampshire political journalism is Adam Sexton. He graduated from Southern Oregon's Ashland High School, and later returned to the Rogue Valley to work as a reporter for KDRV. He is now political director at WMUR in Manchester, It does a good job covering New Hampshire political news. New Hampshire is in the Boston TV market, so most of its television comes out of Boston, where New Hampshire is an afterthought.
I will have photographs and comments on the events in posts to this blog later this week.
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19 comments:
Hate to have you support by attending his event, but I guess it’s necessary. I’m hoping your the only one that attends and that the media interviews you and you can then talk about how destructive and dangerous Trump is.
Kennedy (born in 1954) is both fascinating and very sad. He and Hunter Biden (born in 1970) have a lot in common.
Both are good-looking, white men from prominent political families. Both are lawyers and attended Ivy League schools. Both have struggled with addiction to hard drugs and, apparently, sex addiction. Both lost a parent suddenly and tragically at a young age (HB was 2 and RFK was 14). Both have lost 2 siblings. Both have been married more than once (not unusual these days), but it is agony being married to an addict/alcoholic so presumably the cheating and drug and alcoholic abuse were a major factor (RFK has been married 3 times and HB twice.)
Both have been controversial, RFK for his extreme political views and HB for his business affairs.
Poor Nikki Haley doesn’t have much of a chance. As a woman of color and daughter of immigrants, she has no appeal to the Republican White nationalist base. Nor is anyone with a semblance of sanity likely to support her. Sometime after Trump tried to overthrow the government, she said: “We need him in the Republican Party. I don’t want us to go back to the days before Trump.” It sounds like even the so-called moderates want to keep things crazy.
I don't know that I've ever thanked you for subjecting yourself to these events, but I'm not the only one who appreciates your efforts. It's going to interesting times for the foreseeable future. Take care, Peter.
Forgot to mention that both men are named Robert and both were named after their deceased parent. Robert Hunter Biden was named after his mother, Neilia Hunter (Biden).
I’m another one; thanks very much, Peter! And watch your back.
Marianne Williamson, a Democrat challenging Biden, said the president’s re-election campaign announcement was “concerning.”
“The Democratic Party establishment has indicated it is planning to subvert the primary process by shoe-horning Biden into the nomination, and Americans most concerned about our democracy must not let this happen,” she said. “With over 50% of Democrats, and 70% of all Americans making it clear they wish to see someone other than Biden run against the Republicans in 2024, it is imperative that the voters hear from all candidates running in this primary – not just the President.”
I've often wondered how many people go to TFG's events to just see the train wreck.
Being around his idiotic and dangerous supporters could be hazardous to one's health.
Speaking of Secret Service security, if Trump goes to prison, will they have to go with him?
I imagine the hotel holding the Trump event must be fairly decent, but it sounds like it's generally cheaper than the Beachfront in Brookings. Nonetheless, I'd rather be at the Beachfront.
Add me to the uber appreciation crowd. There is no way I will ever get a chance to personally see or interact with presidential candidates. To have a trusted cohort able to see and report the political campaign going ons is very valuable to me. Thank you so much Peter for making these journeys and reporting. A truly great service to our community!
Thanks for being a committed, roving political junkie and writer.
What is more concerning is Marianne Williamson's mental state.
She is unqualified, delusional and has no chance. Also, she will be 71 in July. If anyone is looking for a candidate from a younger generation (not me, by the way), she doesn't even meet that basic qualification.
There is No Way Americans will elect Marianne Williamson to be our Commander in Chief. Dream on...
I think you meant to write WMUR in Manchester. WBUR is a public radio station in Boston owned by Boston University.
I find it hard to believe I'm agreeing with Marianne Williamson, but on this point, I do . It's past time that the Media, writ large, quit picking the Candidates to promote, or consign to the dumpster.
That said, I don't think I would vote for Ms. Williamson for a County Commissioners job, but her heart is in the right place.
Mc; Yes, it could be, and I hope Peter is being careful.
Cry me a river. She has no chance. So what is the point? Fame, attention and publicity? To cause trouble for Democrats?
Obviously she is another deranged, narcissist with delusions of grandeur. Perhaps she has a God complex. Maybe she is trying to grow a cult.
I am one person, not "the Media." Wake up. Don't be so naive. Good grief.
RE:
“With over 50% of Democrats, and 70% of all Americans making it clear they wish to see someone other than Biden run against the Republicans in 2024, it is imperative that the voters hear from all candidates running in this primary – not just the President.”
It's easy to dismiss Williamson's comment simply based on people's perceptions of this person. It's better to actually look at the polling. Here is some recent info from CBS and YouGov:
Things in the US out of Control?
28% under control
72% out of control
Reasons one thinks things are out of control?
88% state of US politics
85% the economy
75% US culture and values
71% Joe Biden
% Saying Biden among reasons things are out of control
93% Republicans
72% Independents
33% Democrats
Kamala Harris: Job as VP
43% Approve
57% Disapprove
Biden Approval rating
62% March 2021
41% April 2023
For the details, see:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joe-biden-presidential-campaign-opinion-poll-2023-04-25/
Other media sources have similar poll results. This is but one of many, and the most recent.
I think most of the coming months will be "never-Trump" vs. "never-Biden". For me, neither are good for the country and what we face in the near term.
I'm sort of happy that DeSantis is declining, as I want him to complete his term here in Florida. He's term-limited after this term.
In criticizing the media, Williams should be criticizing corporate-owned media. But she won't because a) the media is an easy scapegoat and b) she needs corporations funding.
The number of independent media outlets is shrinking, thanks to the GOPee.
I tuned out KTVL a long time ago because of its corporate ownership.
But wait, there's more!
They also have the following in common: Irish Catholic fathers from the East who were lawyers and Democratic Senators.
Both were born and raised in the East. RFK, Jr., was born in Washington D.C. and Hunter Biden was born in Delaware.
One difference is that Kennedy is a Baby Boomer and Biden is Generation X.
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