I've managed to put together some photos from my campaign trip to Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Now my loyal readers (all 3 of you) can see the Democratic Primary from the front lines.



Kerry, Clark, and Kucinich supporters gaining support for their candidates in the Portsmouth center.




Kerry and Dean supporters vying for prime sidewalk space in Portsmouth Center.




This Kucinich supporter from Ohio traveled all the way from Iowa to campaign in Portsmouth. There were several Kucinich supporters walking around the town center wearing similar sandwich boards. They were out all day long (and it was very cold).




A loyal Kerry supporter who was well prepared for the weather.

I will have more photos from New Hampshire soon.

Related Post: New Hampshire Highlights

All votes have been cast for Dixville Notch, NH, where residents typically cast their primary votes just after midnight. Here are the results:

Democratic Primary
Total number of voters: 15
Clark : 8 votes
Kerry : 3 votes
Edwards: 2 votes
Dean: 1 vote
Lieberman:1 vote

Republican Primary
Total number of voters:11
George Bush: 11 votes

Clark wins Dixville Notch by a landslide [CNN]

Boston Globe/WBZ-TV N.H. Democratic primary Poll
(Sample size = 400 , +/-5%)
1/27/03

Kerry 37
Dean 20
Edwards 12
Clark 8
Lieberman 7
Kucinich<1
Sharpton<1
Undecided 16

Analysis using error: Dean is 7 points behind Kerry. Dean and Edwards are in a dead heat. Edwards, Clark and Lieberman are in a dead heat.

MSNBC/Reuters Zogby Poll — New Hampshire
(Sample Size = 684, +/- 3.8%)
1/25/04-1/26/04

Kerry 34
Dean 22
Edwards 10
Lieberman 9
Clark 7
Kucinich 2
Sharpton .4
Someone else 2
Not sure 12

Analysis using error: Dean is 4.4 points behind Kerry. Edwards is 4.4 points behind Dean. Edwards, Lieberman and Clark are in a dead heat.

USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup N.H. tracking poll
(Sample Size = 970, +/- 4%)
1/24/04-1/25/04

Kerry 36
Dean 25
Clark 13
Lieberman 10
Edwards 10
Kucinich 1
Sharpton 1
None/other/no opinion 4

Analysis using error: Dean is 3 points behind Kerry. Clark is 4 points behind Dean. Clark, Lieberman and Edwards are all in a dead heat.

Boston Herald Poll
(Sample Size = 501, +/- 4.4%)
1/20/04-1/21/04

Kerry 31
Dean 21
Clark 16
Edwards 11
Lieberman 4

Analysis using error: Dean is 1.2 points behind Kerry. Dean and Clark are in a dead heat. Clark and Edwards are in a dead heat. Edwards and Lieberman are in a dead heat.

Final Analysis: Kucinich and Sharpton are losing. Otherwise, who knows?

Those Brits don't mince words:
"[General Clark] faces charges of carpetbagging from the candidates who have been in the party longer than he has - ie since before they decided to run for president."

Ouch. Next thing you know the Guardian's going to be talking smack about Clark's argyle sweaters.

The Guardian

Standard Deviance went to Portsmouth, New Hampshire this weekend to campaign for John Kerry. Here are some of the highlights:
- Saturday's Weather: Temp 9 degrees Fahrenheit, Windchill -10 degrees Fahrenheit.
-While standing in Portsmouth center holding signs, Kerry, Dean, Clark, and Kucinich volunteers all get along famously. However Edwards and Lieberman volunteers are nowhere to be found in Portsmouth.
-Kucinich headquarters in Portsmouth displays a very large sign that says "Office Space for Lease".
-Kerry and Dean volunteers (including yours truly) may appear briefly in a MTV News Choose or Lose special to air on February 2nd.
-After canvassing for 2 hours (roughly 20 homes) only 4 people answer the door and most refuse to say who they're voting for or whether they're voting at all.
-Kerry Portsmouth headquarters is heated entirely by spaceheaters and thus very very cold.
-Bathroom at said headquarters is unusable as pipes are frozen. Kerry staffers and volunteers walk down the street to the Mobile gas station to use the bathroom.
-Note to self: Never, ever leave New York City again without a car, especially when getting frostbite is a real possibility.

The animal inside comes out. It's amazing what you can do with some ingenuity and a little bit of Photoshop.

Also check out some funky Dean music at Barlow Farms.

More Dean Wolf

Part of the Kerry Campaign's turnaround certainly has to do with his PR people emphasizing his service in Vietnam. They are deterimined to have Americans see him as a fighter. Check out these excerpts from his speech:

I make you this pledge: I have only just begun to fight. In the months and years ahead, I pledge that I will be fighting for you and for all Americans across this country...
I ask you to go to JohnKerry.com and join us as we fight to change America and move this country forward.
This fight is about real people all across our country who wonder whether or not our government is prepared to stand up and fight for them rather than those who have the money and the power. It's a fight for people like Elizabeth Hendricks[sp?] from Des Moines...
And I ask you to join me in continuing this fight. And in New Hampshire I ask people to join me in fighting for people like John and Maryann Knowles[sp?] of Hudson, N.H....
We came from behind and we came for the fight.

He could probably ease up on the fight stuff a teensy little bit.

Fight Club

Oh, after last night there is SO much to blog about. Where to begin?

Well, we really must start with Dean's concession speech. I've never seen a concession speech before where the loser cheers and yelps like a hyena. It's quite impressive that he can name all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Okay lets watch the video.

Yeah!

Okay let's watch it again.

Yeah!

Sorry, give me a minute while I compose myself. Oh, that is funny shit.

There's an animal in Dean just bursting to come out. It must be Dean Wolf. I wonder if when he gets excited like that if he also becomes the star player for his high school basketball team.

Text of the Speeches via NYT

In the New York Times today there is an article covering Silvio Berlusconi's recent absence from public life. There is a rumor going around Italy that the current EU president has taken a mini vacation to have a nip and a tuck around his eyes. So, is it possible to connect Mr. Berlusconi and Michael Jackson within six degrees? Let's see.

Michael Jackson's 1997 HIStory tour was managed and produced by Tarek Ben Amar
who was appointed advisor to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for the Middle East and North Africa due to their long friendship from business partnerships.

Michael Jackson to Silvio Berlusconi in 2 degrees. Who knew it could be done!

New York Times

Tim Russert got a little CRAZY this morning on Meet the Press while interrogating Wesley Clark on the Dean runningmate issue. Read on:

"MR. RUSSERT: Let me go through this whole exchange with Governor Dean that you had about the vice presidency. In December you said this. "...as a matter of fact, [Howard Dean] did offer me the vice presidency...it was sort of discussed and dangled before I made the decision to run." "It was a meeting that we had...This was in early September." Governor Dean responded "...I can tell you flat out" that "I did not ask [Gen. Clark] to be by running mate." Who's telling the truth?

GEN. CLARK: Well, I don't think we need to play semantic games with this. I stand by what I said. And I also will tell you this, Tim. I'm not going to be Howard Dean's vice president.

MR. RUSSERT: You said something else: "I'm not going to be Howard Dean's Dick Cheney. We've already tried that model of government and it doesn't work. That's what misled America thus far."

GEN. CLARK: That's exactly right. We need people who are experienced not only in the domestic issues but in the foreign policy issues.

MR. RUSSERT: Another general who entered politics, William Sherman, was asked whether or not he would seek elective office. He said: "If nominated, I will not accept. If elected, I will not serve." If General Clark is nominated as vice president, will you accept?

GEN. CLARK: Well, I've said I'm not going to be the vice president, and that's what I stand by. I'm running to be president of the United States. This country needs a higher standard of leadership, Tim, and to get that higher standard, I'm going to have to be the commander in chief and the president of the United States. That's why I'm running.

MR. RUSSERT: But General Sherman had a very understandable formula: "If nominated, I will not accept." Is that your view?

GEN. CLARK: I'm saying that I'm not going to be the vice president. I'm not going accept that nomination. I can't make it any more clearer than that.

MR. RUSSERT: So if nominated, you will not accept the vice presidency?

GEN. CLARK: I'm running to be president of the United States. I am not running to be vice president, and I do not intend to accept that nomination, and I will not.

MR. RUSSERT: Absolutely.

GEN. CLARK: That's absolutely the facts."

Um, in case anyone didn't get it from that exchange Wesley Clark is NOT running for Vice President. I love it when reporters ask the same questions over and over again for no apparent reason.

Meet The Press

Who knew there were such parallels in politics and pop? Wesley Clark claims that Howard Dean asked him to run as Vice President on a Dean-Clark ticket. Dean denies it. This morning on Meet the Press, Tim Russert laid into Clark on the VP issue, and Clark re-stated that Dean did ask him. Does this remind anyone of a certain Limp Bizkit frontman claiming earnestly that he got "the nookie"from Ms. Spears? The difference - I actually believe Clark, but Durst is trying WAY too hard to be believed.

Dean-Clark
Spears-Durst