The Candidate Next Door

I will continue with a chronological account of our stay in New Hampshire. If you need a refresher, just scroll down and read previous blog entries.

We had a 30 minute or so break between Kucinich and the next scheduled speaker, Mike Huckabee, so we decided to check in to our room. In the lobby, John McCain was holding court surrounded by student activists wearing their "Students for McCain" t-shirts. There were about 20 people around him, and he commanded too much of my respect to shove Marra up against him for a cheap photo-op. Besides, seeing the candidates up close was already beginning to feel normal, so the urge to touch the hem of his jacket had faded. We watched for a minute, then went to the room.

Marra was in her princess glory when she fell onto her own "Sleep Number" bed. The Radisson was featuring Select Comfort air mattresses in all the rooms, so she immediately grabbed the controls in search of her 'number'. As exciting as inflating and deflating a mattress was for an 11 year old, we had political speeches to hear, and I didn't want to lose our front row vantage point.

Mike Huckabee, Republican candidate for President, was 2+ term governor of Arkansas, and actually comes from the same home town as Bill Clinton. He is another "Man from Hope". His story has intrigued me, particularly his dramatic weight loss (I believe it was 110 pounds) and subsequent passion for running. He has run a marathon, and I am not sure if he does them regularly or not. So I feel some connection to him, as someone who once (and only once) braved the 26.2 miles. He also had a strong showing in the Iowa Straw Poll in September, raising his profile among the pundits. I had optimistic expectations.

He looked great in a blue suit, rep stripe tie, and white shirt. Very fit in appearance. He began his talk in a low key fashion, initially relying on his notes. He described his own views on the environment as coming from his personal faith. "We are visitors, and we owe it to our grandchildren to be good stewards of the earth." That sounded heart-felt and sincere, seeing that he is an ordained minister. It fit his regular guy persona.

Like the other speakers before him, he tied environmental security to national security. He crystallized his message by telling us that a "free country must be able to do three things - feed itself, fuel itself, and fight for itself. You cannot outsource one of the legs of this stool and still be free." Well put, I thought, and I wondered to myself how long it would be before Iraq could accomplish all three.

Like McCain, he apologized for the lack of Republican leadership on green issues, but he went on to tell us about the importance of protecting the natural environment in his state, Arkansas. As governor, he said, he realized that if his state didn't take care of its own physical treasures, no one else would.

To encourage environmentally friendly technologies get a leg up in the marketplace, he would ask the federal government to take the lead as Number One consumer of green products and alternative energy. The federal government, being the largest consumer in our economy, could help make these alternative sources of fuel and products more affordable by driving down the prices. That makes sense.

He ended with a memorable metaphor. He asked if we were thermometers or thermostats. Thermometers read the temperature and do nothing about it. Thermostats set the temperature and then work towards it. He, of course, urged us to be thermostats (set at 68 degrees or below in the winter, of course).

For a Republican candidate in a hostile environment, he was well received and, most importantly, believed. With the activist crowd we were hanging out with, that was important. Most of these people grew up with "Question Authority" bumper stickers on their VW vans and hundreds of Grateful Dead bootlegs on cassette. I am sure some still wear knit ponchos on chilly days.

We were on the wrong side of the room to get a picture, but we weren't concerned. Next stop for us was a Mike Huckabee house party in Loudon...wherever that is.

JS