On the ground in New Hampshire
During my weekend travels with Senator McCain, we attended four events, two of which he spoke at. On Saturday afternoon, McCain stopped by a large general store called Calef’s near Barrington, New Hampshire. Then, he spoke at a town meeting in Rochester. Finally, in the evening he attended a hockey game at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. On Sunday morning, McCain gave a speech at the Veterans’ Day ceremony at the state military cemetery in Boscawen.
In this report, I’ll focus on the visit to the general store and the Rochester town hall meeting.
Calef’s apparently is a local institution and a frequent destination of presidential campaigns over the years. This year, I’m told, Romney and Clinton were scheduled to stop by but couldn’t make it. McCain attracts a crowd of about 100, I estimate. A store employee who has witnessed multiple campaigns calls it “a great turnout.” McCain works the crowd and samples the “rat trap cheese,” a store specialty, approvingly but without gushing.
In Rochester, it’s standing room only (perhaps 200 people) in the church where the "town hall" meeting takes place. McCain is introduced by his mother, Roberta, who is 95 but looks 75 (more on her in a later post). McCain’s daughter, a recent graduate of Columbia University, is also present. His wife Cindy is not. McCain explains that she hurt her knee while shopping, and will require surgery.
McCain discusses four topics before moving on to questions: health care for veterans, Pakistan, spending, and Iraq. Pakistan seems like an odd choice. McCain (to his credit) has not yet reached firm conclusions about what we should do. He emphasizes Pakistan’s vital importance, particularly given its nuclear status, and informs the crowd that, pre-Musharraf, Pakistan was a failing state. He also reminds people of how badly things turned out after the Shah of Iran was toppled. But he doesn’t criticize administration policy or the positions of his opponents who, to my knowledge, haven’t articulated any. This part of the speech lacks a single applause line.
Later McCain will tell us that the only topics he always includes in his speeches are Iraq and spending, and that he likes to add subjects that are new and “topical.” He figures that if people give up part of their weekend to hear him, he should address the issues they’re reading and hearing about.
It’s difficult to see how this philosophy translates into votes, but McCain seems genuinely to believe in the process by which New Hampshire examines the candidates for the rest of the country (as he puts it), including the town hall meeting . At a press briefing after the meeting he expresses disgust and concern over reports that Hillary Clinton plants questions at town hall meetings. McCain won here in 2000, so he obviously has a feel for the state. I think he believes that voters will, in the end, stick with him if he continues to respect and honor their institutions and traditions.
McCain gets plenty of applause when he turns to spending. He attacks Congress hard and to good effect. He also goes after Hillary Clinton, criticizing her for earmarks for defense projects in New York that the Defense Department didn’t request. That's money, he says, that could be used to help take care of wounded veterans. McCain concludes that Hillary is part of the “business as usual crowd," and that as president he will “put the business as usual crowd out of business.”
McCain begins his discussion of Iraq by noting that he was the only candidate who spoke out against the failed strategy of Donald Rumsfeld and urged the strategy that’s succeeding now. It’s tough to tell whether the crowd agrees that the surge is succeeding. McCain concludes his remarks by referring to the pledge he made to the mother of Matthew Stanley, who was killed in Iraq, when she gave him a bracelet that he still wears – that he’ll do everything in his power to make sure her son’s death won’t be in vain.
Now it’s question time. McCain had told us that he almost always gets questions about health care, immigration, and Iraq, and all three subjects come up early. In response to the immigration question, McCain cracks, “this meeting is adjourned.” Then, he explains that, though he still favors comprehensive reform, we need to secure the borders first. Since people don’t trust the federal government on this, he’ll leave it to the governors of border states to determine whether their border is safe. Only when all parts of the borders are certified as secure would reform occur. Again, it’s not easy to gauge the audience reaction to this answer.
The one theme that comes up several times in different questions has to do with increasing the level of cooperation in Washington and reducing the bickering between the two parties. One questioner goes so far as the suggest a joint McCain-Biden government. McCain quips that his reaction to this idea depends on who gets to talk first. In general, his responses strike a good balance between the need to treat opponents respectfully and the need for clash where there is genuine disagreement. McCain, in short, doesn’t pander to the “why can’t we all just get along” crowd, but it’s likely that those asking these kinds of questions – presumably independents -- will be well disposed towards him at election time.
McCain clearly enjoys the Q&A. He tends to call on those who look like they have something they’re burning to ask and if they seem to want to follow up, he invites them to. He may say “you look like you’re just itching to call my attention to the facts I didn’t know and show me where I’m completely wrong.” When the follow up question begins, he’ll look at the crowd and say, “see what I mean.” McCain also seems to favor questions from younger members of the audience. Normally, he says, this generates lots of discussion about climate change. Today, it doesn’t; the focus is on worldwide humanitarian aid.
The crowd clearly likes McCain, but I don’t sense he has definitively won over the room. Take this for what it’s worth, coming as it does from someone who until this weekend had zero experience on the campaign trail – I believe lots of people up here simply haven’t made up their minds. Given the state of play, that’s probably what McCain is hoping.
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