As Primaries Approach, Students Stump in Nearby States

Nine members of Harvard Students for Edwards—the self-described “hardcore of the hardcore”—canvassed in New Hampshire on Saturday, as part of a larger group of 24 Harvard College Democrats doing legwork for the Jan. 27 primary. The Edwards volunteers were eager to begin campaigning for their candidate, whom most polls estimate is trailing fellow U.S. presidential candidates Howard B. Dean, John F. Kerry and Wesley K. Clark in New Hampshire.

The students chanted the Edwards jingle on the bus ride from Cambridge to Manchester: “One, we love John Edwards…Two, he’ll win New Hampshire…Three, he’ll win the White House in 2004 four four four!”

Edwards’ biggest fan may in fact be Brittani S. Head ’06, the peppy president of Harvard Students for Edwards. “You know you’re a dork when you can name their offspring,” she said.

Head, who hails from Tennessee, describes her parents as “right-wing evangelical Christians,” but says she has campaigned in New Hampshire almost every weekend since October.

“If voters see that enough people are committed to this candidate enough that they go door to door in freezing weather, it goes a long way,” said College Democrats President-Elect Andy J. Frank ’05, who also campaigned for Edwards on Saturday.

Armed with long voter lists, the volunteers door-dropped campaign literature and platform books in a working-class Manchester, N.H., neighborhood decorated with American flags and Christmas wreaths.

New Hampshire State Senator Joseph A. Foster—who gave his sought-after endorsement to Edwards last month—said that Edwards’ comprehensive policy books would ensure voters learn about Edwards’ platform.

“They throw lit away, but they don’t throw books away,” he said.

On the Streets

New Hampshire, where license plates declare ‘Live Free or Die,’ has historically held the first-in-the-nation primary date, giving elections special significance in the state.

This sense of influence over the nation’s future may account for New Hampshire’s high voter turnout rate, which is 12 percent more than the national average, according to a recently quoted Zogby poll.

And though District of Columbia voters will beat New Hampshire voters to the polls this January—thanks to their new primary date of the first Tuesday in January—the New Hampshire primary is still being viewed as the first litmus test of this primary season.

The Edwards canvassers did not, however, run into many residents who were excited about the primary, which is only a month-and-a-half away.

“I try to stay out of politics as much as possible,” said resident Dana T. Church, who was outside fixing his neighbor’s snow blower when Jessica R. Rosenfeld ’07 approached him with literature.

“I let things ride. One vote can’t make a difference,” Church said. He admitted that he doesn’t vote and didn’t know who was running in the Democratic primary.

Many of the residents seemed apathetic to the canvassers’ enthusiastic doorstep pitches. Though clearly at home, some residents did not even open the door.

“They’re indifferent, they’re not political dorks like Harvard kids,” said Head. The canvassers write ‘grouch’ next to the names of unreceptive residents.

The Edwards supporters say they have definitely seen an improvement in voters’ reactions to Edwards. “People now seem to have at least heard of him,” said Head. “When I first came up in October, people were like, ‘Who?’”

The voters who knew about Edwards’ platform did not seem to mind that he was a Southerner, a detail that may become important in a crowded Democratic field made up of mostly Northeasterners.

“It doesn’t make any difference,” said resident Elaire Perron, while his wife Pauline perused her copy of Edwards’ policy book, otherwise known as “the Plan.” “He’s from a similar background as us. This area used to be textile area before it moved south.”

The Perrons were unique of the residents visited. They were both watching CNN Headline News and seemed to know enough about the candidates to know that Dean’s positions had changed on some issues over the past couple of months.

They were leaning towards Edwards, they said, though they had initially planned to vote for Dean.

On another street, independent voter Eric Boucher agreed with the Perrons. Boucher, who said he “votes about the issues,” didn’t think Edwards’ roots would give him trouble in New Hampshire. “Maybe 20 years ago, it would matter that he’s a Southerner, but now, no.”

Though Boucher had not yet settled on a candidate, his five-year-old daughter Bayleigh didn’t deign to deliberate. When asked who she wanted for president, she pointed to her father.

The Edwards Enthusiasts

The sign over the entrance to the Manchester campaign headquarters asks, “What have you done today to elect John Edwards?”

The gentleman from North Carolina has attracted a dedicated group of staffers in this Northern capital.

Jonathan R. Menefee, 25, a field coordinator with the Manchester office, isn’t quite sure what to do once the election is over.

A native North Carolinian, he took a leave of absence from law school and drove cross-country from Sacremento to Edwards’ national headquarters in Raleigh last summer.

Headquarters sent him more than 500 miles north to New Hampshire to volunteer.

Menefee invokes a line from the 1996 campaign novel Primary Colors to explain his desire to work for Edwards.

“‘I want to know what it’s like to be inspired,’” he says in a Southern twang. “[Edwards has] gone from nothing to this great American man. He’s the American dream, quite literally.”

Kinsey Casey joined the Edwards staff in New Hampshire last June as the volunteer coordinator, and has been the contact person for the Students for Edwards campaign. She organizes their volunteer work when in New Hampshire.

“They’re good kids,” she says of the Harvard volunteers. “They’re not just doing this for their resume.”

Like the rest of the New Hampshire staffers, Casey, 24, will be relocated to another primary at the end of the month.

“It must be sad,” says Head. “You make friends and then you’re gone.”

At 6 p.m., the canvassers regrouped at campaign headquarters, which is located above a Chinese restaurant, across the street from a pawnshop and around the corner from Forbidden Fruits, an adult film store.

While waiting for the bus back to Cambridge, they watched a series of Edwards’ political ads in Kinsey’s office, decorated with a picture of a handsome teenaged Edwards in football uniform, his helmet at hip.

The volunteers they had seen most of the ads before. Frank had even memorized the lines.

“Why don’t we have the money, George W. Bush?” Frank drawled along with the commercial.

Though kids and staffers all agreed Edwards needed a more “presidential” timepiece than his current plastic sports watch, they still think he is “a very sexy man.”

Head had a better reason to support Edwards. “He’s the only candidate who makes ‘now’ a three-syllable word,” she said.

Cheers erupted on the bus on the way back to Cambridge when Greg Schmidt, campaign director for the Harvard Democrats, announced that the club is planning a trip to the South Carolina primary over intercession. The Edwards supporters broke into their passionate mantra.

“One, we love John Edwards…Two, he’ll win New Hampshire…”

—Staff writer May Habib can be reached at habib@fas.harvard.edu.