Mitch Perry
Nashua, NH —
After a frenzied week of campaigning, New Hampshire voters are going to the polls today, and the good news is that it appears that if any snow does descend upon the state, it will be rather innocuous in its intensity.
To say the least, that’s a big deal. You can hear the blather about how resilient New Englanders are, but it’s just a fact that it ain’t easy to get out and about when the weather turns poor up here, let me tell you. And everyone’s ground game is slightly affected when the ground is slick and not as easy to negotiate.
The latest poll (From local ABC affiliate WMUR and CNN) shows Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders to be prohibitive favorites. There are a lot of guessing going on if Marco Rubio can regain his mojo that he temporarily lost over the weekend. There’s a part of me that thinks John Kasich may exceed expectations, but it’s so hard to judge.
One thing that anybody following the coverage in the press has learned about these voters is how many of them are truly independent, and could go in so many different directions today when they finally get to the polls. Many, many voters have told me that they were undecided about whether to vote for Bernie Sanders on the one hand, and either Kasich or Trump, or perhaps even a Ted Cruz, on the other. It’s sort of weird, but that’s the beauty of an open primary system like New Hampshire — registered independents can vote in either party primary, something that the political power brokers in Tallahassee would have a heart attack contemplating — you know, allowing voters actually to have more choice in their decision making.
I’ve seen many (but not all) of the candidates in action this week. I’d say Jeb Bush has been as impressive as anyone in fielding questions from citizens, though sometimes it’s almost painful to watch how the candidates attempt to please the person asking a question without pandering too obviously.
On Sunday in Nashua, John Kasich met with the press after his first town hall of the day. The first thing he said was that he had “gotten too excited” inside, and was taking back his comment that he supported a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. I’m not sure how many reporters had noted it, but that happened.
I also noticed some of the same people at different town halls, asking the same questions. Talk about having the candidates answer to you personally! Some of that was good, some of it was a turnoff. But it’s absolutely retail politics in the truest sense of the word, something we really only get to see in Florida in city council/county commission races.
How well does Donald Trump do here? For all the hyperbole, the man has yet to ever win an election. There have been some old school Republican types who have maintained that Trump would never win a single primary. Believe me, the media will hype it big-time tonight if and when he pulls down a victory. So let’s see what happens.
At a small private college in Nashua, New Hampshire yesterday (less than 1,000 students small), Bernie Sanders called on Granite State voters to help send a statement around the world by supporting his “revolution” today.
Miami Beach Mayor Philip Levine says that Democrats shouldn’t be taken in by Sanders’ call for a political revolution.
And the group Florida Strong has produced a new web ad assailing the Florida Legislature as being captive to special interests.
