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Mary Beth Williams, who is supporting John Edwards, reports on her visit to Kucinich campaign headquarters in New Hampshire:
Change of Venue...
This morning, I'm posting from Kucinich Headquarters.
While I was posting from the Manchester Library yesterday afternoon, Brian dropped in on the Kucinich campaign, also located on Elm Street, a block down from the Edwards office. He met me in the library, practically glowing from his experience. We headed on down to the local Mexican waterhole, a welcome break prior to the next Edwards event at the Palace Theater in Manchester, where we ran into three of Kucinich's senior staff. An hour and a couple margueritas later, we were all fast friends, invited to freely use the office's wireless connection to post today.
While most of the campaigns, particularly Senator Edwards, have been very hospitable, the Kucinich staff takes this to another level. There is no restriction to our access here - no "secure" areas closed to the media. We've been invited in on a conference call between the Congressman and student activists (the Apollo Alliance). In fact, Congressman Kucinich is now standing two feet behind me as I type, having blown into the office like a whirling dervish of unharnessed energy, shaking hands, bolstering his volunteers, then out again to another event.
It's also been fun here as the majority of the staff are actually adults. Okay, that's not particularly fair to the other campaigns as the energy level of the early-twenty-something staff is contagious, and there are definitely a number of younger staffers running around the office. But the staff here are seasoned, and it shows in both the organization and the level of composure in the midst of D-day activities.
The campaign is also incredibly upbeat. Poll ratings mean nothing here, they are in for the long run. They continuously challenge people to vote from their heart, not to give in to the cynical "electibility" meme. Like the Edwards message, the talk around here in Kucinich HQs is positive, emphasizing the hope inherent in the campaign. When the Congressman appears with Wolf Blitzer on CNN, the staff and volunteers yell and cheer as though they were watching the NCAA finals.
As I've noted in Maine, there is a level of comradery here between many of the different camps; voters with Edwards bumperstickers wave and beep for Kucinich and Kerry and Kucinich supporters speak fondly of Elizabeth Edwards. Unfortunately, not all campaigns get the "plays well with others" stickers. Kucinich volunteers running visibility on Elm Street were apparently harrassed yesterday by Dean supporters, and a staff member described being accosted last evening by Deaniacs demanding to know why Dennis "stabbed Dean in the back" in Iowa.
Brian the Intern is off checking out the GOTV/volunteer efforts of Clark and Kerry, and later we'll post our summary of all the operations.
(Sidenote: The Kucinich Headquarters are the cleanest we've visited so far. The carpet obviously was recently vacuumed.)
Update: Two Kucinich supported just called into headquarters. Apparently each were polled by the Clark and Kerry campaigns on candidate preference: Dean, Lieberman, Kerry, Edwards, or Clark. Kucinich was left off the list, and when the supporters responded their support for the Congressman, the calls were disconnected prematurely.
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