Unity At Long Last

By now I'm sure you've read or heard about the big upcoming Unity event in Unity, NH. Brilliant, I think. The icing on the cake is, of course, that Hillary & Obama tied in that small NH town, 107 votes each.

But, I won't be there tomorrow (Friday), so I negotiated to get to go to today's event in Manchester instead. It was billed as a Women's Event, featuring Michelle Obama and Gov. Jeanne Shaheen. So, alone, I travelled to Manchester a little later than I would have liked, and arrived by 1pm.

The venue was called The Amory, and it appears to be an old armory annexed by a large hotel, and now used as a very nice, rustic function room. There were about 200 seats, and I took one in the very last row. In front of me was Abby Goldstien from NHPR. I spotted other prominent Dems and activists. I scanned the staff for familiar faces and only recognized two from the old Edwards team.

Just before 1:30pm, Michelle Obama & Jeanne Shaheen were introduced. Michelle did a short prepared speech first. She wore one of her signature "shift" dresses with a cute matching sweater. She was relaxed, and I am happy to say, not overly made-up. And man is she tall! After her, Shaheen spoke (no notes), then they joined four women in a pseudo-View style set up.

Being that I like policy more than the average person, I was a bit bored with the format. I felt that Jeanne Shaheen did an excellent job bringing topics back to talking points, linking some of the issues to her proposals. But you know me, I am not here to report on all that. You can read the papers if you want to know the text.

I decided that I needed to hang out after for a photo or handshake, and am glad I did. There wasn't a huge crowd. First was Shaheen, who seemed to know everyone by name. She really knows this state. After I shook her hand I mentioned that I am loving her daughter's new blog. She beamed like a typical proud parent, and started telling everyone about it. Molly wouldn't do it unless she could be herself, which is what I love about the blog. Her voice is so much like the young people I work with every day, so I find the blog very authentic.

A few moments later, I shook the hand of the the future first lady. She was very at easy, and had a great handshake. Did I mention how TALL she is? The carries herself very well, and is very poised. Impressive.

Before leaving, I was spotted by Susie, now the logistics go-to woman for Shaheen. Just after we had a picture taken together, we got cornered by a WCVB TV (Boston's channel 5) reporter. Given that Susie is a staffer, it was all me. With TV camera rolling and light shining in my face, the reporter asked, "So, were you a supporter of Clinton or Obama?" I knew this was going to be her question, so I was ready with my proud "I was an Edwards supporter, actually." I'm sure I ended up on the virtual editing room floor because I just didn't fit the current headline.

Let's hope that today's Unity event puts that headline to rest, so we can all just move on from this silliness & get down to the serious business of putting Democrats back in the White House & Capitol!

First & Last, Part II

In a follow-up to my short diatribe about the contradictions of The Granite State, here are a few more reasons why this state is so fabulous:

#1 Place for Kids

#1 Place for Breastfeeding (tied with Vermont)

See, there really is no "middle of the road" for New Hampshire.



Live Free Or Die...

Reading Recommendations

I've often said that the blogosphere is kind of incestuous. We all just keep linking to each other, and after a while, you are sent in circles back to where you started. Well, case in point: earlier this week, PolitickerNH announced that Prof. Dante Scala has joined their staff. Hooray for them, lucky us. Maybe the site now will have a little bit more umph to it, rather than just competing press releases.

If you've been reading my humble writings for a while, you already know that I am a huge fan of the GraniteProf and have been for a few years, usually just catching him on NHPR after a debate and being glued to my radio. I'd never seen him on TV and had created a completely off mental image of him based mostly on his fabulously-Italian name.

Early last spring, he somehow caught wind of my blog and admiration, and we became email pals. Not much later, he disclosed that he was leaving Saint Anselm's College for UNH, where he is now the Chair of our Political Science Department. For me, his book Stormy Weather put the science in Political Science. I highly recommend it. I'm not much one for statistics (as my graduate school pals from MSU can attest), but this really helped me see how they can be applied to real life politics, and used in social science courses. [Maybe now we'll see some sort of quantitative or reseach methods course requirement in the POLT major!?!]

Although he enjoyed a bit of a cult following at Saint A's, he has had humble beginnings here, surprisingly. Several of my staff colleagues & fellow junkies haven't realized he's here now. And students, POLT majors in his classes!!, have no idea that he's one of THE go-to guys for the NH Primary. I find that amazing, since he was on some form on mass-media every Wednesday morning--very early morning, I might add-- through most of this primary cycle. Either our students are cluess or he's very humble. I think maybe it's a little bit of both.

I'd let you borrow my copy of the book, but it's making its way around Hood House right now for beach reading. (When I eventually get it back, Dante, I will finally ask you to sign it.)

So, if you are a political junkie or wanna be, please buy your own copy; it's an easy read and they're cheap. Until it arrives, get a glimpse of his writing and his numbers at PolitickerNH.

Open For Business!

The new NHDP Dover office on Chestnut Street is officially open. (Update: Foster's article 2 days later.)

I had to work late last night, and pulled up to the building just as former Governor (and future Senator) Jeanne Shaheen was finishing up her remarks. There was a nice size crowd gathered on the sidewalk, full of familiar faces from the campaign trail.

I wound my way inside for a peak around. It's bigger inside than it looks, but the space is broken into various smallish rooms. Lucky for the supporters and vols, there's a full kitchen (good luck keeping that clean!)! Plus a bonus: basement storage or poster-making space. All the ghosts of the former occupant (HRC's campaign HQ) have been exorcised, and a few new signs are up including the requisite "wish list." But basically it's empty, ready and waiting. I plan to take a picture now, and another one in November for contrast. One room was already hosting a rather serious looking meeting, but the rest of the space was filled with supporters poking around, collecting new stickers, buttons, or cookies, and people vying to chat with or get a photo with Gov. Shaheen. It was really laid back, casual. Nice.

Let me interject here how much I love that Shaheen's signature color is green. Really, do they ALL have to be red, white & blue? And, of course it works for me that her names rhyme with the color choice. The environmental inference is icing on the cake.

One thing I've noticed about Shaheen (besides that she is very prompt) is that she's not surrounded by staff who are uptight or full of themselves. No one was rushing around or frantically checking their Blackberries. No ties, either!! I could hardly tell staff from supporters! (That's a compliment, to me.) Everyone looked genuinely relaxed, happy to be there, and having a good time. Introductions were being made, neighbors were catching up.

If there was any animosity left over from the long primary, I didn't see it. There was one code phrase I caught a few times "I've never been in here before," which I took to mean "I supported someone other than Hillary, just so you know." Luckily, we in NH have had a LONG time to get over whatever losses we may have suffered, and we seem ready to play nice. I saw JJ (sporting Obama gear) and some others from the JRE team, another lesbian mom family from the neighborhood, my neighbor Leigh, Hillary and Obama supporters, several UNH students, one former UNH colleague, and the usual collection of State Reps & officers from Strafford County Dems. And John Barriere did a great job of welcoming all graciously, answering questions, collecting names, taking a few minutes to give me a quick little private tour.

So, friends and readers, if you are in the area I invite you to Chestnut Street in Dover. Stop by and pick up a lawn sign or bumper sticker today. Tell John I said "HI!".

A New Campaign

I've started a million posts over the last few days, both in my head and on my actual computer, and have deleted them all because I was just repeating myself. So, my feelings and observations haven't changed in the past week even though so much as been going on in the world.

But what has changed here? The DNC & NHDP have kicked into action. This morning, my neighbor forwarded an email to me announcing the opening of a Dover office. Here's why I found that so wonderful:

• The office will be at 11 Chestnut Street, which I believe was the old HRC office during the Primary. The "for sale" sign disappeared last week, so I was wondering. Now, I get to drive by every day & report on the action.


• The email was from the new Dover Field Organizer for NHDP/Shaheen, John Barriere. Ha, I love it! John is an active member of the UNH College Dems, and was the President of UNH For Obama last fall. He was so good at what he did that I was envious of the energy and excitement he was able to create on campus without the benefit of a campus visit by his candidate. John posted on his Facebook page that he was looking for a job so I posted the NHDP Help Wanted info. Voila! (I'm not meaning to take credit; I'm sure I had little to do with it in the end because John is so amazing on his own.)


• Office opening will be Monday 6/09/2008, 7:30pm, and I have to work until 8pm. So, I'm hoping to swing by and check out the digs on my way home

So when we drove by the building this morning on our way to preschool, I decided to update the kids on the election: Obama won for our team, and Mommy will be supporting him (as will John Edwards). Obama will be going on to the next election against John McCain. That's a new name to them, so I had to offer a quick profile, "He is a Senator, he was a very honorable soldier, and he voted for the war. He likes war." I left out the fact that he does not like two-mom families like ours, or any of the other reasons why Mommy does not like him.

Then I jumped back to HRC to catch them up on the news: "Some people are really sad and angry because they wanted a girl to be president." Then my brilliant 5-year old daughter offered this anaylsis: "I really wanted a girl, too, but I really really don't want guns (war)." So, she had two conflicting values--anti-war and pro-women--and she placed a higher value on the war. I was so proud of her!

I reminded her a bit about who Barack Obama is, especially that he had two little girls. She loved that, and then asked me if they were still little.

Yes, it has been a LONG primary, but not THAT long!

(late updates: just a few interesting items worth viewing, IMHO: From E J Dionne, Talking Points Memo, and of course, Jon Stewart.)

It's Official...

If NHDP Chairman Ray Buckley can do it, so can I:

Job Interviews

I got a quick note from a friend in-the-know this morning, that Hillary's Advance staff was being called home, and now I read it from an actual news source, so I guess it must be true (not that I doubted you, my friend, I just felt the need to confirm).

And so, perhaps this primary is finally over.

In a previous job, I did a ton of hiring & supervising of staff, most of whom were students or graduate students. One thing I learned about hiring was this: you can learn the most about a person's true character by how they handle rejection. Inevitably, I would decide not to hire someone after struggling over the decision, wringing my hands and loosing sleep. Then the student would get the rejection letter and prove to me quite clearly that I made the absolute correct decision but getting all unprofessional and inappropriate all over me. And of course as fates usually had it, a new position would later open up and said student would have burned that bridge so thoroughly that what had been a opportunity would become "don't bother applying."

So, Hillary was just handed a big fat rejection letter by the DNC (or maybe she was made an alternate?). While a whole lot of people didn't vote her off the island, the end result was that she will not be getting the job. After what you've seen of her behavior, would you put her on the top of the candidate list for next time?

For all the reasons I've already outlined, I would not. Not yet anyway. Certainly she can redeem herself in the next 2 days in the manner of how she bows out. I do forgive easily if the effort is made and it seems sincere. But to me, she has not been a team player. She put her own needs ahead of the party's, but worse, and she ran a lousy campaign (IMHO). Her surrogates and supporters were/are making all kinds of threats and saying things that aren't nice. She and they have used very twisted logic to make their arguments (especially about Michigan vote being "her victory, fair & square") and in the process lost a lot of my respect, and some of her own dignity. I do hope she can pull that back together.

Looks like we'll have our answer on Tuesday evening.