I campaigned for Clark for 5 days in NH. My report

Renew Deal

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Thu Jan-01-04 02:09 PM
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I campaigned for Clark for 5 days in NH. My report

As some of you know I was in Manchester, NH campaigning for Clark for the last 5 days. It was a great experience and a lot of fun. The people working there are very nice. They are smart, tough, and committed. I worked on many projects and activities. The volunteers and staff were from many states. There were people there from NY (me), Mass., Maine, Oklahoma, Florida, Mississippi, Missouri, Idaho, Arkansas, Virginia, Georgia, Vermont, D.C., Nebraska, Texas, NJ, NH, and of course many other places. It�s a mix of volunteers and staff. But mainly volunteers. There are people working 24 hours or close to it. These are great people.

While I was up there I visited the Kucinich staff twice. I also saw offices for Edwards, Lieberman, Kerry, and on my last day Dean. The Clark, Dean, and Lieberman campaigns are the most visible. Kucinich is 4th and Kerry is a weak 5th. I did see a couple lawn signs for Gep and one or two for Edwards. That was it for visibility.
I did run into a Lieberman supporter while I was canvassing. He was canvassing too. He said he was from Connecticut. I don�t think he was sure why he supported Lieberman. I didn�t see anyone else from a campaign around town except Kucinich.

The Kucinich people are great. I met a woman from Oregon that was pretty cool. They are trying to do what they can up there. They have issues with housing for volunteers that she is working on. They were pissed off about a new Dean flyer but that deserves and will get a new thread.

Lieberman is dangerous in NH. He is spending 4 million in ads and has moved there. He doesn�t have to campaign in Iowa. People seem to like him at the town halls that he is doing. He is the only one I saw with billboards. There is potential for Lieberman to do damage there. Most people don�t know that he is running as a republican and they don�t care. I also think that they might see him as out of the fray. They best way to get Lieberman out of this race is for him to finish as a 4th and especially behind Clark. That will make him look bad going into the south. He will continue to be dangerous if he finishes ahead of Clark in NH or he wins anything on Feb. 3rd. Lieberman needs to be shut out to get him out of the way.

People in NH seem to be pretty undecided. I would say support is soft for all candidates. The only ones making any noise there are Clark, Lieberman, and Dean. Edwards may also be but he just doesn�t catch on at all (that will be the great mystery of this campaign).

One last thing. The Clark supporters and volunteers were not all PNAC plants to my disappointment. These were some of the most hardcore Dems I have met. Many of them worked for Bill Bradley last time around. They also supported an impressive list of national and local democrats. They have very well thought out reasons why they support Clark. They do not have the infighting mentality of DU. The reason is that they are too busy. They are positive and focused. BTW, I met at least on DUer by name. Resist the coup. She is a very nice person.

OK, so I gave you all a brain dump. Ask me anything.