Two Days to Go

Sun, January 06, 2008 - 10:39 PM

Unscripted moments abound in town hall meetings held by presidential candidates in New Hampshire. A town hall meeting with McCain today at Woodbury Middle School in Salem started with two.

Protesters at campaign events are fairly rare, but vocal activists from NH Against AIDS hijacked McCain's meeting for a few long minutes near the start. He was magnanimous at first, saying how wonderful it was that citizens could exress themselves and that the purpose of town halls is to hear questions. But when the protesters continued to disrupt, he said, "You must not be from New Hampshire," and warned jokingly that "I got some old veterans here," who presumably were willing and able to restore quiet. The audience booed and the protesters were escorted out, chanting, "You're not even trying."

Then, McCain gave his stump speech. The first questioner was a man who said, 'I'm an independent who was with you last summer when you were at 3 percent." When McCain started to thank him, the man cut him off, saying this is New Hampshire and he had an issue to discuss. In fiscally conservative New Hampshire, the man was upset that McCain voted for tax rate cuts that have worsened the federal deficit and led to higher interest rates.

He is trying to decide for whom to vote among the candidates. That led to the comment "You're in purgatory right now." and McCain's reply, "Thank you very much. It's a step up."

-- Marsha Mercer