Here are a few loose end items from John McCain's announcement tour kick-off at Prescott Park in our fair city of Portsmouth on April 25:

Needs some cheer work -- A few times before McCain arrived, some boosters tried to get the crowd excited with a rousing cheer of "McCain! McCain! McCain!" Alas, at the time there were just as many media types around as supporters or spectators. Unfortunately the crowd didn't get much bigger. The Portsmouth police estimated there were around 300 at the park.

It was also clear that this was supposed to be a media friendly (i.e. camera craving) event -- the staging was more for the benefit of the national media (and national audience) than folks actually there.

Continue reading "Loose ends on the announcement tour" »

Posted by Michael McCord at 05:53 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

Courtesy of announcements by the Edwards and Clinton campaigns on April 23, the roster of undecided NH Dems decreased significantly. At 3:30 p.m. or so, The Clinton folks released a list of 500 women in the state who are supporting Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York. While not as impressive in quantity, the Edwards campaign sent its release out around 12:30 p.m. and tried to match in quality by releasing a list of "Prominent New Hampshire Leaders" (men and women pols and activists) who support the former North Carolina Senator whose coiffure has gotten more attention of late than his populist message. At this rate, there will be approximately two undeclared Dems by the July 4 barbecue season.

Posted by Michael McCord at 04:48 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

Writers are a fussy lot, endlessly editing and revising if not on paper (or digitally) than in their heads. On further review, here are a few things I left out of my Sunday (4/8) Out on a Limb column about Sen. Hillary Clinton. The first: I enjoyed my conversation with her. She was gracious, thoughtful and given to laughter (which may have had something to do with my interviewing style).

Continue reading "More on Hillary" »

Posted by Michael McCord at 05:27 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

I received this letter from an Ohio reader who has a few critical observations about his Congressman: Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich.

Mr. McCord:
If you or any of your staff at the Portsmouth Herald happen to see my Congressional REPRESENTative Dennis J. Kucinich (MIA in Ohio for past 9 weeks and likely for next 9 months) again, kindly tell him to get his "butt" back to his home district before the last few still working residents become unemployed or finally move out.

Note that his district in northeast Ohio is a major part of the poorest major city in the nation: Cleveland (poorest two of past three years thanks to his and others' "efforts" )

Also, in his 10 and counting years of "service", he has had ONE sole D.J.K. sponsored bill which he got passed into law -- to allow a Ukrainian Museum to broadcast TV programs.

Continue reading "Searching for DK" »

Posted by Michael McCord at 05:14 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the things that makes running for President such a masocistic exercise is dealing with questions and statements that are, well, to be polite, exotic...

Continue reading "You think it's easy..." »

Posted by Michael McCord at 10:22 PM| Permalink | Comments (0)