In the beginning I just thought I’d go see the different candidates at the campaign events in New Hampshire. Four years prior, not long after I moved to New Hampshire from Massachusetts, my sister was volunteering for Senator Kerry’s campaign. She’s a loyal and active Democrat; our parents are Republicans. We talked on the phone after the Iowa caucuses when Howard Dean screamed during his concession speech. She hadn’t heard it called the ‘I have a Scream Speech’ yet, and I said that I felt for him. I figured if I were in politics that would be the sort of thing that would take me out. It wouldn’t be scandal or corruption; I’d simply do something so embarrassing that no one would take me seriously again.
My sister told of a news clip she had just seen of a woman who had met Senator Kerry, then fainted. The video looked like a shot from the Wizard of Oz with Senator Kerry standing over a pair of feet. I was starting to realize that I had missed quite a show by not attending Primary events, so I simply thought this time it would be interesting to see. I certainly had no plans of picking a candidate early, and no interest in joining a campaign. I thought it might give me something to write about on my website, but basically I was just curious.
However, when I started attending New Hampshire primary events in early 2007, I loved them. My perception of campaign events, particularly town halls, was off base. The last thing that I thought I needed was a candidate and his campaign trying to schmooze me into voting for him. However, town halls, and house parties to some extent, are question-and-answer sessions. If you like a candidate, don’t like a candidate, or are angry about something, you get to say so. If the candidate is good, he or she will listen and respond thoughtfully. Obviously they’re trying to get your vote, but they have to talk issues, and playing both sides of the road at a town hall meeting is unwise because the next person with a question could be on the other side of that issue. It makes for an excellent forum to judge a candidate.
An Indpendent Call by Katherine J. Morrison available at Amazon.
Previous entry: Becoming Involved – ‘Who Knew?’ AIC #2