Yesterday, being July 4th, I went to the next town over for their Parade as it is one of the bigger ones in NH. This year, I expected to see a lot of Republican candidates marching – and was not disappointed. Indeed – a far cry from what has been the norm the last couple or few election cycles.
Lots of candidates there (a Hodes group was there but I didn’t see the senator-wanna-be myself) and other Republican folks. A couple of quick interviews. The first Micro-interview was with Frank Tilton, chair of the Belknap County Republicans (also running for NH House); we chatted about his outlook for the fall elections (BTW, the float behind him is by Bill & Faith Tobin; Faith is the lady in the blue top):
I would also be remiss if I pointed out that Jack Kimball (running for NH Governor, also after the jump) may not have had a large group of supporters, but DID go "unique" – the only candidate with his own personal bagpiper (Joe Barton)! I learned two things:
- recording smoothly and walking backwards is something I am going to have to practice – a lot!
- Ever hear the Star Wars theme on bagpipe? It does tend to grab one’s attention and go "REALLY!"
Next was with Jim Forsythe (running for NH State Senate) who was with his Mom – drat, she didn’t reveal much about her son (smart lady, there, Jim!). Apparently, Jim comes from good stock – she’s active in the TEA Party movement in her home state!:
Also caught up with Andy & Laurie Sanborn; Andy is running for the NH Senate & Laurie is running for the House – only the second Republican couple to ever attempt this. Platforms – the same! This should be very interesting!
However, unlike most of the micro-interviews I usually do, I decided to go a bit non-political with this next batch; with very few exceptions, there were three questions:
- How many events have you already done?
- How many more before the day is done?
- And before you started running, you must have had some idea of the time and effort it was going to take. Has it turned out to be less, spot on, or more than you thought?
After the jump:
After the parade, I caught up with Tom Brown, Laconia Republican chair and running for the NH House on what he is seeing this year:
