"“I like being here because it seems like and in our last rally here and other parts in this great Northwest here in New Hampshire you just get it,” Palin said."
New Hampshire is in the NorthEAST, dear (sigh)!
Sarah Palin addressed supporters at a rally yesterday at Dover High School in Dover, N.H. Below, she spoke at an outdoor rally in Laconia, N.H., before a crowd of more than 2,000. (Globe Staff Photo / Essdras M. Suarez)
"As McCain flags in N.H., Palin calls for a comeback; VP nominee on first swing in New England" by Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff | October 16, 2008
LACONIA, N.H. - With a toned-down stump speech stressing economic themes, Sarah Palin urged New Hampshire voters yesterday to help revive Republican John McCain's sputtering presidential campaign one more time.
McCain has fallen behind Democrat Barack Obama in national polls and by double digits in some surveys in New Hampshire, once a Republican redoubt that has turned more Democratic in recent years.
Adjust your map accordingly, readers.
Palin made an unabashed appeal to Granite Staters' pride, praising the natural beauty of the state, the still-vibrant foliage, and residents' love of the outdoors. She likened New Hampshire to the state where she is governor.
"You're a lot like the people of Alaska," she said at one point, then suggested Alaska borrow the New Hampshire motto of "Live Free or Die."
She also made reference to the fact that New Hampshire and Alaska are the only two states with neither a general income nor a general sales tax, repeating the old joke that New Hampshire is home to "two kinds of people: the fine people of New Hampshire, and the fine people of Massachusetts who got sick of paying all those taxes."
Well, I gotta give her credit for that one! When she's right, she's right, and as we say around here, even a blind squirrel can find an acorn.
After the Laconia rally, however, two men said they were roughed up by McCain supporters after they began chanting Obama's name. One had a black eye with a trace of blood, and they said they complained to police. A Laconia police spokesman said the two men had disrupted the event and had been ejected.
At the event in Dover, not far from the seacoast, many in attendance were from Massachusetts or Maine. Many of those interviewed said they are independents, or undeclareds, as they are known in New Hampshire, a state with a deep libertarian streak and where conservatism has long been defined more in terms of economic rather than social issues.
Makes you wonder how Ron Paul 'lost" up there.
Most were impressed by Palin.
"I think she's fresh, not like a politician in Washington," said Charles Sloane of Rochester, a retired civilian employee at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, who was among hundreds turned away when the Dover gym reached its fire safety capacity.
"She's feisty and a breath of fresh air," said Cynthia Hill of Somersworth after the Dover rally. She said she supports Palin even though they differ sharply on a key issue; Hill favors abortion rights, which Palin opposes even in cases of rape and incest.
Well then, I hope you get what you want, lady -- and don't come crying to me when you do!
Michael Shaw, an accounting manager from Enfield, Conn., said he drove more than 200 miles to see Palin in Laconia, after being shut out of tickets for the Dover event. Shaw said he's even more convinced that she has been treated unfairly after seeing Palin speak in person.
"She's the bomb," said Shaw, an independent who said he plans to vote for McCain. "She's getting beat up left and right. Look at what the media are doing to her, like the 'Saturday Night Live' skits. They treat her like she's a baboon, like she doesn't have a brain." --more--"
Sorry, but the slipper fits Ms. Sarahrella here, so slide it one!
And is it me, or does the Boston Globe leave you with the feeling McCain is going to "pull out" New Hampshire again?
Adjust your map accordingly, readers.
