Sen. Joseph Lieberman speaks at a party held by the Cheshire County Democratic Committee in Keene, N.H.
(I really don't want this to turn into a caption-this session, but I fear it might.)
Posted on 06/03/2002 7:42:23 PM PDT by the
KEENE, N.H. -- Most people probably spent Sunday evening watching basketball, barbecuing, or taking it easy before another workweek.
Joe Lieberman passed the time stopping at the Kahn house on Darling Road to hobnob with people willing to pay $25 each to talk 2004 politics.
Nothing unusual about that, though, and the very fact that the political world takes such a visit - and the Connecticut Democrat's breakneck campaign schedule - in stride probably says much about where the 2004 campaign is heading.
Lieberman spoke to about 60 local folks Sunday night at this house, tucked off a winding road in the state's southeastern corner. They've heard almost all the candidates already. Former Vice President Al Gore phoned a dozen local activists recently, and then stopped by for lunch. North Carolina Sen. John Edwards has been here, and others are coming in the next few months.
Lieberman offered them a more moderate Democratic brew than they are used to, interspersed with the usual good cheer.
Cheryl Kahn, her husband, Jay, and their two children, one a college student and one a teacher, were all here. Lieberman asked them if they had come home just for this. When they said yes, the senator chuckled, "I'm glad I can bring the family together."
In Lieberman's talk he was mostly business. He offered his usual themes - that a president needs to concentrate on security, opportunity and values. It's important to remember in the war on terror, Lieberman said, that in fighting the war, "we have to respond in kind, not only with strength, but with our values."
The stop was the latest since the Senate began a 10-day recess May 24, and Lieberman has traveled to almost every corner of the country. The senator went immediately to Washington state, then down to California, over to Arizona and now here.
That New Hampshire comes last is no accident. This is the necessary coda to his trip, the part that matters most, because without a good showing or a win in the three smaller, early primary states of 2004, the other 47 may not matter.
This will be the longest, earliest presidential nominating campaign in modern history. Lieberman and his rivals will formally decide whether to make the race by the end of the year - Lieberman's decision hinges on whether former Vice President Al Gore runs. If Gore's in, Lieberman's out, and vice versa.
That means 2003 will be a year of nonstop campaigning, because even though most 2004 primary and caucus dates have yet to be locked up, this much is clear:
Iowa's caucus will be the first important test, probably coming two or three weeks after New Year's Day.
New Hampshire's primary will follow seven or eight days later, making it the first secret-ballot test of the year.
South Carolina's primary is expected to be held Feb. 3, and be the first test of a candidate's Southern strength. Soon after that, a series of bigger states will hold contests, perhaps the following week, and the nomination will have been decided, far earlier than even 2000's effective make-or-break day of March 7.
Democrats insist that they really don't want it this way; in fact, party officials last year tried to persuade states to hold primaries and caucuses later, between March and June.
But, they say, Republicans have given them no choice. Democrats feel they got burned in 2000 when the GOP held a series of primaries and caucuses in January and February while Democrats generally waited.
As a result, "Democratic candidates were sidelined for five weeks while voters heard about the Republican candidates and their process," according to a report by Democratic Party Rules Committee Chairman James Roosevelt Jr.
Democrats came back on the media radar in late February, and a week later, had a nominee. No one's sitting back now; would-be candidates are determined to avoid any lulls, and say that benefits the voters as well as themselves.
"Too much of politics is on TV. It's remote control to people. You need to get them excited about the process," said House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt, D-Mo.
Adding to the frenzy is that the political activists in the three key early states are urging the candidates to visit and get to know them - now.
"One of the greatest things about living in New Hampshire is that you get to see everyone up close," said Tanna Clews, a Portsmouth activist.
That's why Lieberman, D-Conn., made seven stops in a 48-hour swing through New Hampshire in March, why he visited South Carolina for two days in March and another day in April and was back in New Hampshire Sunday.
Others are also around, on a mission to craft images - along with money, the name of the game at this point.
Gephardt, for instance, spoke to a Charleston Democratic crowd this spring in a tone far different than his usual audiences hear.
"I'm a Baptist," he said in the heart of the nation's Bible Belt. The St. Louis Democrat told of how he "went to church all day Sunday and at night. I was a youth pastor. My parents wanted me to be a Baptist minister."
Gephardt is known largely as a friend of labor and defender of liberal causes, but his pitch in the South was clearly meant to cast him in a different light.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman speaks at a party held by the Cheshire County Democratic Committee in Keene, N.H.
(I really don't want this to turn into a caption-this session, but I fear it might.)
If any one would like to be removed from my CT Bump list, please let me know and it will be done ASAP. Conversely, if you would like to be added the same holds true.
Just goes to show how far to the looney-left these folks are. They are slowly taking over the great state of NH.
Also the funniest. In addition to Elmer Fudd here, we will have Mr. Heinz, the Shyster, the Waitress Sandwich Half, Tiny Tom, ET, and Hillary. Toss Rev. Al into the mix and this has all the makings of GREAT COMEDY. The primary debates should be the funniest show of all time. I am looking forward to the entertainment.
I suspect as the college goes, so goes the town.
I visited Keene State when I was applying to colleges. Fourteen years ago it wasn't too bad but it has steadily gone downhill towards the left since then. But then again, few academic institutions have avoided the socialist/communist infestation. Especially here in the Northeast.
The Leader: We know now that there must be a single purpose! A single norm! A single approach! A single entity of peoples! A single virtue! A single morality! A single frame of reference! A single philosophy of government! We must cut out all that is different like a cancerous growth! It is essential in this society that we not only have a norm, but that we conform to that norm! Differences weaken us! Variations destroy us! An incredible permissiveness to deviation from this norm is what has ended nations and brought them to their knees! Conformity we must worship and hold sacred! Conformity is the key to survival!
Dr. Bernardi: Miss Tyler? Miss Tyler, don't be afraid. He's only a representative from the group you're gonna live with. Now, oddly enough, you've come right to him. Now, come on now. Don't be afraid. He's not going to hurt you. He won't hurt you. It's alright. It's alright, Miss Tyler. Now, this is Mr. Smith. Mr. Walter Smith. Mr. Smith is in charge of the village group in the north. He'll take you there tonight. It's the only way now.
Walter Smith: Miss Tyler, we have a lovely village and wonderful people. I think you're gonna like it where I'm gonna take you. You'll be with your own kind. And in a little while, oh, you'll be amazed how little a while, you'll feel a sense of great belonging. You'll feel a sense of being loved. And you will be loved, Miss Tyler. Miss Tyler, would you get your things now? You can leave anytime.
Janet Tyler: Mr. Smith?
Walter Smith: Yes?
Janet Tyler: Why do we have to look like this?
Walter Smith: I don't know, Miss Tyler. I really don't know. But you know something? It doesn't matter. There's an old saying. A very, very old saying. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. When we leave here, when we go to the village, try to think of that, Miss Tyler. Say it over and over to yourself. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Come on now. We'll get your things and we'll leave.
Dr. Bernardi: Goodbye, Miss Tyler.
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