First, the highlight, as I knocked on doors in Manchester tonight a voter actually mentioned that he reads political blogs!  He mentioned that without me asking! The bad news is that he was positive about Romney, Giuliani AND Edwards & Obama.  This guy was hard to figure out.  He was listed as an independent on my walk list.  I marked him as undecided.  In any case, he had the best shoveled stoop in Manchester, no ice, and that alone was a delight as I had forgot to change into my boots and almost slipped several times on walkways between the sometimes non-existant sidewalks & the street.

Traveling to a state like NH or Iowa is fun, but it's hard to avoid the doubts about if it really makes a difference, if it really is worth the time & expense.  A few quality voter contacts a day is about all anyone can expect.  Face to face contact is still the gold standard of a campaign, but its also time consuming & problematic.  

On this trip I had two honest, good conversations with voters before I got out of the airport.  The helpful lady at the welcome NH info counter right at the bottom of the escalator in the Manchester airport had maps and she noticed my Obama button.  "I like him" she volunteered "I like that Richardson too."  I was a little surprised.  Everytime I've been to NH before people seemed disengaged and sometimes slightly annoyed that anyone was campaigning so early.  Not tonight.

From there I picked up my rental car.  The friendly guy at the counter noticed my button too and wanted to talk a little politics.  There was no one in line.  He explained that he usually voted Republican "until the war."  He thoughtfully explained some of Bush's many failures.  "I'm not a Democrat -- but I will vote in the primary."  He was undecided between Edwards & Obama.  He asked if Obama would include any Republicans in the Cabinet.  That one stumped me and I said it might jinx us to be talking about the Obama cabinet already.  He understood.  It was a positive, friendly conversation as I agreed to pay for the loss damage waiver.  And he gave me the Obama Camopaign "exploritory committee" discount rate, 10% off the rate I had booked.

On to the Hotel -- the Four Points -- which has free internet access on desktop computers in the lobby.  Ah, the joys of a full size keyboard!  Then I made my way to Obama HQ.  It's a familier place to Wes Clark supporters from 2004, 60 Rogers St., the same building as Clark's HQ 4 years ago.  It was getting late & dark at 4 PM, but along with a poised volunteer from Virginia we grabbed a walk list & a handful of "literature." and went door-to-door in a middle class Manchester neighborhood.  It was icey & the street numbers were often dark & hard to find.  Over the next 2 hours the two of us had about 10 conversations with voters.  

The bottom line, as on my past trips to the state, is that it is anyone's ballgame but I could see the gears twisting in the heads of several folks.  Edwards could do well here if he wins Iowa.  People like him.  Opinions are still forming about Obama.  Opinions are formed about Clinton, and a lot of Democrats like her.  The end result when I turned in my sheet?  6 undecided, 1 strong Obama, 2 lean Obama, 1 strong Clinton and something like 13 people not home.  The war & health care are the most important issues.  

Back to HQ, lots of phone calls, not a lot of people home.  I suppose there is a lot of stocking up before the big storm expected tomorrow.  I'm a little scared about driving in the snow up here but so far, so good, and tomorrow I'll have my boots on to canvass for Barack Obama & real change.  Join us!  The New Hampshire campaign needs & wants volunteers and yes, I am a volunteer.