Sign Waving in Concord

I had intended to attend an event in Concord, where a local restaurant was hosting a meet and greet. The event was at noon. I arrived in Concord at about 11:20, and was told that they were already turning people away at the Barley House. Unable, therefore, to sample the new Huckaburger, I went over to the Huckabee campaign headquarters and asked what I could do that would be useful. If the best thing was to grab a sign and wave, I’d do that.

So, I did. That was especially fun this time, because I got to meet a number of new people. Among those visiting from out of state, I met a wonderful woman from Georgia, who had come by taxi from the Manchester airport, after having been dropped off at the wrong North Main Street. I also met a few other Huckabee bloggers — a couple from New Jersey (Mr. & Mrs. Gary Walter) and one who is a part of Rhode Island for Huckabee.

Other than that, most of the Huckabee supporters there were people that I knew from other sign waves. When I first went out, there were also several Ron Paul supporters and one Hillary Clinton supporter. A car with John McCain supporters circled the block, coming through several times with people leaning out of the windows and climbing through the sunroof. I remarked to one Ron Paul supporter from Seattle (at that time, the only other person sharing my corner of the intersection — the notorious corner of North Main Street and Loudon Road in Concord, NH) that apparently McCain has locked up the reckless driver vote. We had a laugh about that one.

As noon arrived and the buses with the Huckabee party arrived at the Barley House, several of the Huckabee wavers went in that direction. I stayed at the intersection for the simpe reason that I figured it was already too crowded. It turns out that it was better than that … many of the Ron Paul supporters then left the intersection and surrounded the Huckabee gathering. They were shouting at and mocking Gov. Huckabee, from what I could hear and what I heard from others after the incident. Apparently Sean Hannity was there, as well. (I later heard that Hannity had his own run-in with snowball-throwing Ron Paul supporters angry with him about Paul being excluded from the debate.)

Apparently it turned into a match to see whether “Tax Hike Mike!” or “I Like Mike!” would be shouted more loudly.

I do think that it’s a legitimate question, Why can’t the Ron Paul people have their own events? I understand the frustration about not getting the news coverage that the campaign deserves. I even agree with the point about being excluded from the Fox News debate. But I don’t think that it can be reasonable argued that Gov. Huckabee is at fault. I remain convinced that belligerence is not going to win over a lot of voters.

I also met two guys from Albany for Huckabee, a really good blog. A Clinton supporter walked by and, rather pointedly, declared, “I’m from Arkansas. I know Mike Huckabee. I support Hillary!” One of the Albany gentlemen turned around and answered, “I’m from New York. I know Hillary. That’s why I support Mike Huckabee!” I thought it was a good answer. The Albany gents had their own sign:

(The Clinton supporters can be seen in the background, apparently retreating.)

This was certainly fun to see:

I am curious about this next one … maybe a Ron Paul supporter, or someone just more savvy than I, can explain it:

What am I supposed to ask You Tube?

I was there for about an hour and a half. In that time, most of us were Huckabee, Paul, or Clinton supporters. I left to change Eagle, and when I came back, there was one Ron Paul guy and a few McCain sign wavers.

I thought that that was interesting …

A couple side notes:

One group of Obama supporters showed up for about fifteen minutes. But they decided to cross Loudon Road without waiting for the light, and were nearly hit by a minivan. I was wondering what that would have done to Obama’s campaign organization.

Also, one Ron Paul supporter didn’t go over to the Barley House. He remarked to me that he wished people wouldn’t do things like that, because “It makes us all look like jerks, instead of getting our message out.”

He has a point there, you know.

I will write more about the appearance at the Rochester, NH American Legion this evening, but I have a couple things to do first. All of this, of course, as we eagerly anticipate the poll results from Dixville Notch!

(Due to a rash of vile “comments” being spammed on this post in particular, I have shut off comments on this one.)