As Beto campaigns, New Hampshire looks for rock-ribbed answers, not fluff
| Claremont and Keene, N.H.
When Frank Fahey arrives to see Beto O鈥橰ourke in Claremont, New Hampshire, there isn鈥檛 a single chair left at The Common Man Inn.
Mr. Fahey is standing in the back with his cane, jammed between journalists and doughnuts and a man who remembers seeing Ronald Reagan campaigning on his town鈥檚 store porch, when someone points out an empty bench up front. And that鈥檚 how Mr. Fahey scores not only a premium perch but the last question here for Mr. O鈥橰ourke, who is testing out his star power on Granite State voters after announcing his 2020 bid last week.
Mr. Fahey, a retired educator, wants to know how the former Texas congressman will be able to back up his 鈥渨onderful ideas鈥� and fend off President Donald Trump. 鈥淥ne thing I鈥檝e heard him say about you is you wave your arms around and you鈥檙e crazy. You do wave your arms around, but you鈥檙e not crazy,鈥� says Mr. Fahey. 鈥淗ow are you going to put meat on the bone?鈥�
Why We Wrote This
An early political hurdle in the U.S. presidential race is the savvy New Hampshire electorate. Is Beto O鈥橰ourke鈥檚 cheery enthusiasm enough for the Texas Democrat to win over skeptical voters seeking substance too?
For seven decades, New Hampshire voters have taken very seriously their role in vetting presidential candidates.听Every candidate must crisscross the state 鈥� the first in the nation to hold a primary 鈥� meeting voters face to face. This is America鈥檚 tried-and-tested forge of retail politics. Given their personal experiences with candidates, New Hampshire voters may be the most politically savvy citizens in this democracy. And they don鈥檛 tend to fall for fluff. These are people who shovel themselves out from underneath winter, grow up going to town meetings, and take to heart the state鈥檚 motto, 鈥淟ive Free or Die.鈥�
So if any state is going to probe whether Mr. O鈥橰ourke has the chops to back up his charm, it鈥檚 probably New Hampshire.
鈥淲e鈥檙e known for asking hard questions,鈥� says Molly Kelly, a former New Hampshire state senator and the 2018 Democratic candidate for governor. 鈥淲e are the first presidential primary in the nation, and we don鈥檛 take that lightly. We understand the responsibility and the seriousness of the issues and our voice here.鈥�
To Mr. Fahey鈥檚 question, Mr. O鈥橰ourke confesses that yes, he does wave his hands around. Then, for all of 60 seconds or so, he manages to ditch the political jazzercise before his knees start bouncing and his arms start flying and once again he鈥檚 throwing his whole body into an audacious bid to become the leader of the free world.
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Close encounters, with many a candidate
Ask New Hampshire voters whom they鈥檝e personally met over the years, and they鈥檒l likely rattle off half a dozen names. In the long parade of would-be presidents, they鈥檒l recall encounters with Jimmy Carter or Jesse Jackson, or the time Michelle Obama spoke right here, right outside the Keene State College Student Center where this Tuesday everyone has been waiting for more than an hour and a half for Mr. O鈥橰ourke to arrive.
David Bell, a retired elementary school teacher, says that at this point he鈥檚 interested in the gut reaction he feels to a candidate more than any specific policy points. He recalls the visceral reaction he had to another fresh-faced young hopeful, John Edwards, who struck him as a 鈥渢otal fraud.鈥�
Sitting next to him is Bob Englund, a retired physician who along with his wife has hosted a dozen candidates for fundraisers. He likes Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar the best so far but says it鈥檚 thrilling to have more than a dozen 鈥渋nteresting, smart, articulate, honest, respectable people running for the highest office in the country鈥� and all coming to meet voters like him.
He鈥檚 not too worried about policy proposals at this point either.
鈥淲hen Barack was starting his campaign, he was not able to answer specific questions,鈥� says Dr. Englund. 鈥淎nd as far as I鈥檓 concerned, Barack Obama turned out to be a very good candidate. He was honest, kind; he never tweeted, and no president should ever tweet.鈥�
Keene State College economics professor Marie Duggan likes Mr. O鈥橰ourke and sent him $10 for his losing Senate bid last fall, but she wants to see some mettle 鈥� and she鈥檚 not sure he has it.
鈥淚 feel like I would like my country back, and I need a candidate who is strong enough to get it back,鈥� she says, waiting on a flight of stairs at Keene State,听overlooking hundreds of people milling around waiting for Mr. O鈥橰ourke to arrive.
Eighteen years after getting her Ph.D., Professor Duggan is still paying off student loans, and now her teenage kids are about to enter college. Her boyfriend鈥檚 health insurance provider refused to pay out when he got sick last year and then shut down its operations in the state. She opened her home to a kid whose grandparent died from an overdose, underscoring the seriousness of New Hampshire鈥檚 opioid crisis. She鈥檚 tried to get help through Medicare and Social Security, but even this college professor has been stymied.听
As she sees it, life has become unbearable for the middle class.
鈥淎 candidate has to show me that they鈥檙e going to fix the system and not just that they鈥檙e a nice guy,鈥� she says. 鈥淸Mr. O鈥橰ourke] might not have the backbone to tackle some of these things,鈥� she adds. 鈥淧eople say Klobuchar is nasty with her staff, but I can see her breaking up a big bank.鈥�
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First, a desire to bring together
It鈥檚 hard to imagine the charming Mr. O鈥橰ourke breaking anything apart. He repeatedly talks听about his desire to bring the country together, to put country above party, to think of each other first as Americans before labeling one another as Democrats or Republicans. Americans need to work together, he says, to overcome the pressing challenges facing the country and the world, from climate change to income inequality, immigration to racial discrimination.
鈥淎ll this is only possible if all of us come together,鈥� Mr. O鈥橰ourke says, speaking in a breathless, unpunctuated string of ideas, a freight train of fervor that plows right through the loud cheers. 鈥淭he greatest mechanism humankind has ever devised for tackling challenges of this scope and scale is democracy. And our democracy right now is so badly broken.鈥�
The style of the El Paso, Texas, native听has evoked comparisons to another young, charismatic Irish Catholic who rose to national prominence: Robert F. (Bobby) Kennedy. In an era of particularly nasty politics, many see in Mr. O鈥橰ourke a fundamentally decent man 鈥� someone they would like to have over for dinner, someone they can trust.
He drives his own rental car, he arrives late, he fumbles 鈥� 鈥渟orry, I keep kicking you,鈥� he said mid-speech in Keene, New Hampshire, apologizing to a journalist holding a sound boom near his knees.
He鈥檚 not always sure of the exact statistics he鈥檚 referencing 鈥� 鈥渕as o menos,鈥� he says, throwing in a little Spanish, and makes his point anyway. He doesn鈥檛 use notes. He doesn鈥檛 pull out a 10-point plan for how exactly he would fix any of the big problems, at least not yet. And that鈥檚 just fine with some people.
鈥淚鈥檇 rather have that than someone who has set ideas without talking to people,鈥� says Joan Davies, a resident of New Hampshire since 1985. 鈥淭hey have plenty of that in Washington, D.C., already.鈥�
It鈥檚 early in the 2020 campaign. With more than a dozen declared Democratic candidates, Mr. O鈥橰ourke has done well in raising funds, pulling in听more than any other candidate on the first day听($6.1 million). But at this point, only 8 percent听of likely Democratic voters nationally name Mr. O鈥橰ourke their first-choice candidate, according to the听l. On March 30, after swings through some early primary states, Mr. O鈥橰ourke plans to 鈥渓ay out his priorities鈥� at his official campaign launch in his hometown.
O鈥橰ourke鈥檚 first visit to New Hampshire, where he visited all 10 counties, generated headlines and some enthusiastic crowds. But the state鈥檚 hard-to-impress voters, who know the marathon parade of Democratic contenders is just beginning, aren鈥檛 in a rush to commit to one candidate, however much they enjoy meeting him or her.
鈥淗e鈥檚 bright; he鈥檚 got wonderful ideas; he鈥檚 got 150 percent energy,鈥� says Mr. Fahey, who asked the last question during the campaign stop in Claremont. But, he adds, 鈥淚 would be afraid I would be throwing away my vote.鈥�
Mr. Fahey sees a complacency among Democrats that could draw out the nomination process and prevent them from mounting a successful challenge to Mr. Trump. When the former teacher visits more well-to-do areas of the state for continuing education classes, people seem out of touch with the income disparity he sees in rural areas and the loyalty many there feel for Mr. Trump.
鈥淚鈥檓 worried he鈥檚 going to get elected again, very worried,鈥� says Mr. Fahey as Mr. O鈥橰ourke wraps up his post-speech selfie scrum and thanks everyone profusely on his way out the door. A campaign aide sweeps him into the Dodge minivan driver鈥檚 seat, and the Beto show gets back on the road.
鈥淎s he鈥檚 in New Hampshire, he鈥檚 going to see that this is a little bit different territory. You鈥檝e got to come with a little more substance,鈥� says Tyler Sweeney, the New Hampshire director for the Concord Coalition, a bipartisan group that advocates for a balanced federal budget. 鈥淎nd I think this is where he is going to shape his policy."
