Author: erikeisele

The First Debate

I’m heading down to Manchester next week to cover the first New Hampshire GOP presidential-hopeful debate. To be fair there was an earlier debate between GOP hopefuls, but most of the big names were missing. They all won’t be at this one (Palin and Giuliani come to mind) but Gingrich, Bachmann and Romney will all be there, among others. I’m working out a plan to live-blog it, although I’m not sure just exactly how or for whom yet. It’s a work in progress. But I will definitely be writing something up for the Conway Daily Sun. I figured as long as I’m on the presidential theme I might as well keep rolling.

Plastic, or Half a Term Short

Mitt Romney called me at work today to talk about his announcement that he is running for president in 2011. I was mentioning the call to someone this afternoon, and the word that came up was “plastic.”

Other’s have put it more gently: Mitt Romney looks every bit the presidential candidate. But what that means is his hair is always perfect, he’s always smiling, he’s tall, dark and handsome.

In other words, he’s a slightly graying Ken doll, with a conservative slant.

When Giuliani stopped by two of the people in the office noticed he didn’t look anyone in the eye when he shook our hands. I was too busy futzing with my video camera, so I can’t say I noticed, but they were sure. It’s interesting to get to meet these people one-on-one, and to interact with them. It’s the beauty of being in New Hampshire.

Several of the people who have been there through several of these cycles talk about how the most successful candidates have charisma, star power. Jon Stewart was talking about it recently when he was on Bill O’Reilly’s program. Bill Clinton, he said, lit up the room. Sarah Palin does the same thing.

Thus far I’ve met Newt, Rudy and Gary Johnson (you don’t know him) and talked with Mitt. If I had to choose based on charisma, I’d go with Mitt.

But he doesn’t have it all. It comes back to being plastic. Mitt has earned a reputation similar to John Kerry, that of a flip-flopper. He laid out excellent rational about why supporting state health care reform similar to Obama’s national health care reform was acceptable today, and he made it clear he would scrap the national plan as soon as he makes it to the White House, but in many conservatives’ eyes he’s too late. He’s switched positions enough to have lost their confidence.

I don’t have a Republican candidate who seems genuine. Mike Huckabee would have been a good example, but he’s opted not to run. Gary Johnson was very genuine, but I don’t see him getting very far. John Huntsman the same thing.

Honestly, I think Palin is the best combination of charisma and authenticity the GOP can offer this year, but I can’t see her winning the general election. Between not knowing her magazine titles and not finishing her gubernatorial term, she just doesn’t seem to have what it takes to lead the country. Besides, she is a Tea Party favorite, but many moderate voters are scared of her. Had she finished out her term in Alaska she would have had a much better shot at 2012, but people need some time to forget that history for her to succeed.

So who’s left? I’m not really sure. No one promising yet, but it’s a long way from November. We’ll see where we end up in 2012.

Another Busy Week

It has been a short week this week, because of the Memorial Day holiday, but it has again been crazy. A man struck another man in the head with a hatchet, there was a drug bust in Conway at the same time as someone in the house was overdosing on antidepressants, there was an attempted abduction of a 14-year-old girl, tornado warnings north of the notches, and former mayor Rudy Giuliani stopped by the office to say hello.

Here’s a brief clip of his visit:

It’s been interesting over the last two months — I’ve become almost a full time crime reporter. I’ve talked to the Department of Corrections spokesman at least once a week, sometimes a couple times a day (like today and yesterday), and I’m sinking my teeth into the law almost every day. Child endangerment? Sure. Felonious sexual assault? Why not. I’ve been seeing more and more of this stuff as the weather warms. I’m interested to see just how hot the summer gets. I’m not sure people want to see much more of this.

On the good side, however, I had no fewer than four cover stories today. I’m not really sure how that works, I crowded out everyone else. The good thing is we have two reporters gone on vacation. There’s been no shortage of things to fill the paper with while they’re gone!

…Everything Else is Publicity

Bill Moyers was on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart the other night, and he made the most fantastic quote about journalism I’ve ever heard: “The news is about what people want to keep hidden. Everything else is publicity.”

We had former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani swing by the office today. Why? For publicity. He isn’t running for president yet, but he wants to test the waters.

“Who cares?” should be a good response to his visit, because surely everyone will hear enough from him, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin and every other candidate running for president in 2012 when they start spending like mad. As the campaign continues their stops will continue to be publicity, but unless they’re hiding something it isn’t news, by Moyer’s definition.

I have to agree. It isn’t often you find something people are actively working to keep hidden, but those are the things worth finding. The biggest news story of the last century brought down a president after he tried to hide what his staff was doing. The rest of it? I’m with Moyers — who cares.

Watch The Daily Show Moyers interview clip, and if you have time check out the second segment:

 

Tweeting Joplin

This is an incredible blog post by New York Times reporter Brian Stetler about the power of Twitter when reporting is most needed. It’s worth a read. It’s also worth noting that whether covering a disaster in this country or a war somewhere thousands of miles away, connectivity is key. It isn’t reporting if you can’t get the word out. It’s funny how Twitter bridged that gap in this case.

Republican Candidates, the GOP and Ray

So obviously I caught up with Newt the other day. Next week Rudy Giuliani is scheduled to stop by. The campaign is warming up, and already people are looking to 2012 (including me).

I’m not originally from New Hampshire, and I didn’t go to college here. I only began studying the political landscape here in the last few years, when I started covering it. It’s still funny to me that the governor of this state only serves two year terms — I’m used to four. And then there is this thing called the executive council that oversees everything he does — I’ve never seen one of those before. And I haven’t been around during primary season before. I’m already looking forward to the next visit.

When I spent the day with Ray Burton, the executive councilor from the first district, he called himself a Rockefeller Republican, meaning someone who comes from the center-right, not the right-wing of the party. They are not the branch of the party currently in charge.

But that is a branch that typically does well in New Hampshire. Social conservativism doesn’t fit with the state’s libertarian streak. I’m interested to see in this Tea Party-powered election cycle how that plays out in this state. How will it play out for moderate Republicans like Jon Huntsman? What will a good finish in New Hampshire mean as its overly white, traditionally moderate electorate becomes more and more distant from national voters?

And what does that rightward influence mean for candidates like Burton? New Hampshire has seen a rise of fierce conservatives, as the House numbers prove. It will be interesting to see where it all ends up.

Newt!

We got 10 minutes with former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich at the office today. He was swinging through town on his first visit to New Hampshire as a candidate. I was able to shoot video of the entire conversation, which I will post as soon as it finishes uploading. Here’s to the start of the 2012 GOP primary in Conway!