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MANCHESTER, N.H. — Politico had it right with their headline, "Nerd Tourism Booms in New Hampshire Primary Weekend." Having stomped in N.H. two other times in my life, (2000 for Gore, 2004 for Kerry) I must admit that this time it felt different. The atmosphere was positively electric.
My weekend began Friday evening at the New Hampshire Democratic Party’s Annual 100 Club Celebration Dinner — an event that has grown so much in popularity that it is now hosted at the Verizon Arena!
I sat with a group of NJ Democrats to listen to the speeches. It was heartening to see seasoned Democratic operatives, statesmen, donors and elected officials delight in who the next speaker would be, and excitedly snap selfies of themselves with counterparts from other states to post on social media.
Early Saturday morning, we welcomed a bus of 60 student volunteers from Rutgers and Princeton for a weekend of "Get Out The Vote" activities. The students were immersed in a hardscrabble ground game, and came away with the experience of a lifetime.
In between knocking on doors and making calls for Secretary Clinton, I made sure to drop by The Radisson Hotel in Manchester; the center of the N.H. political universe. During election season, it is the place to see and be seen, and where MSNBC was broadcasting live.
Elected officials, high level operatives, pundits and political celebrities (and sometimes even presidential candidates) surround you the moment you walk through the door. You get to witness them prepping for their next segment, casually eating lunch with colleagues, and standing against the wall charging their cell phones.
While personally, the results were not what I had hoped for, it warmed my American heart to see lines of cars more than a mile long at various polling places I passed. New Hampshire residents are excellent stewards of this awesome responsibility, and I remain jealous that they get to be such an important cog in our Democracy.
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