Never Kiss And Tell - Unless You're In New Hampshire

My room in Manchester, NH's cleared out. The cars loaded. I've got a bag full of New Hampshire teeshirts and paraphernalia for folks back home. It's time to hit the road. I've earned some R&R, so don't expect to see me back online till Friday (Hopefully M.E. or 2010 Buckeye will have a few things to say on BSB while I'm off relaxin'; if not, what a better time to try your hand a posting a diary?). But first, a rather lengthy recap of the past 90 days.

Talking to folks from back home this past summer, they'd ask me what New Hampshire was really like. "What aren't you blogging," or "What's your opinion on all this stuff that's going on." I'm sure folks noticed, at least at times, how my voice was restrained - I tried to take a hands off approach to the presidential content I generated. The NH Project was about eyes and ears on the ground (and interjecting a little "O-H-I-O" into all the buzz out here)...it was not about commentary on the merits of policy, or who I think is going to be the nominee, or extended political guesswork. And in that sense, the nature of the project helped me maintain political access (afterall, no campaign wants to let a blogger into the fray that's just there to talk their work down); however, it was a double edged sword. There was definitely constant pressure from all the campaigns (some moreso than others) for positive coverage. Staffers on presidential campaigns are hyper sensitive about what you write (moreso than any other type of campaign I've ever been around) re: their candidates; on more than one occasion I was approached this summer by campaigns about coverage which they weren't entirely happy. Sometimes I threw those campaigns a bone - finding anything positive I could say in my next post to make things up to them and keep my access open (yes, that is always the unspoken issue) - and other times I blew it off. The entire project was an adventure in balancing. Three months in New Hampshire was more than just about blogging too; it was one hell of an education in presidential politics.

But getting back to those questions, "what was it really like?" (Intense, day in and out...running from one event to another and collapsing at night), and "what aren't you blogging?" Throughout the summer I avoided blogging about staffers, gossip, and my opinion on why somethings played out like they did. At the time, I thought that stuff would hurt the project - but I suppose we can talk about it a little now.

One of the most difficult issues this summer was separating my opinion of staffers from my opinion of the candidates.

As a thank you to three campaigns that helped me out this summer tremendously - Clinton, Obama and Dodd - I did a little baking this past weekend and left them with cards and tins full of homemade "Buckeye" candy. That's a testament to at least something about them.

I loved the Clinton staffers (Sarah, Carly & Kathleen). Absolutely loved them, and they were all top notch at both performing their jobs and "leveling." Team Biden had this affable guy named Evan Carlson, who reminded me constantly of the Ohio Democratic Party's Todd Hoffman, who was a pleasure to work with. Team Dodd, despite struggling with traction and the near insurmountable task of climbing out of the depths of the 2nd tier, is by far the most experienced with the net, and Matt-Browner Hamlin and Tim Tagaris deserve the credit there (along with a candidate that legitimately "gets it.") Tim at the Obama camp, who came in midway through the summer to take over internet organizing, was my primary contact with that campaign and also a pleasure to work with. While the Richardson and Edwards camps had some very nice staffers, I never really felt like they "got things" like the other campaigns. For example, when I met the Edwards campaign for the first time the communications director sat me down and spun me with talking points for about 20 minutes instead of just an informal meet and greet. While there are some great guys and gals with Team Edwards (Eddie Vale for one), things just didn't click like they did elsewhere. Also, I felt the Richardson campaign (both staffers and the candidate) was so busy trying to be everywhere (honestly, Bill's the hardest working candidate out there...his daily schedule is intense) that it sacrificed quality (for example, when I met with Bill Richardson I was told no pictures. My best guess for that was because - no offense to the man - he looked like crap from a schedule that's run him ragged. Deep sunken eyes from 14-16 hour days and all that). So the dynamic of my relationships definitely played into the blogging a bit.

I had at least one "official" contact on every campaign (usually through the communications office), and then unbeknownst to the communications staffers, on several campaigns I had a few other sources (prior friends, friends of friends, or whatever). Long story short, from nearly the get-go I knew which campaigns were receptive to the project, and which campaigns would rather just see it buzz off.

And of course there were problems on the staffing end... For example, from day 1 I knew some of the higher ups in the NH Obama camp were a little less than enthusiastic about the nature the project. Specifically, one friend on that campaign told me word had gotten around the office that the comm. director "flipped her shit" after meeting me because she was distrustful of the fact I'd gotten some funding from Ohio politico's. In the words of my buddy, he said it was as if "Hillary Clinton herself were paying the AP." Problems along these lines with trust and all that jazz came to fruition one night when I went to an event in Keene and was denied access. Folks probably remember the story - it got around the net so much that I got a few calls randomly from folks I hadn't spoken to in years who saw it - but what didn't get so much play was how reticent I was to publish the account. And even now I still love the Obama camp, and think the world of the folks on staff there - but that one incident was a great example of how my interaction with staffers really impacted the type of coverage I produced. On the opposite side of the coin, some staffers really got not only the NH Project, but also blogging in general, and as such their candidates have had a much more positive reception online across the board (Clinton, Dodd, etc.).

Despite any ups or downs though, ultimately I'm leaving New Hampshire with an immense respect, and optimism, for all of our Democratic candidates. I'm also departing New Hampshire, after observing the entire Democratic & Republican field at one point or another, with the sincere belief that almost all of our candidates are superior in message, substance, stump, and presentation to anyone on the right. Any one of these guys or gals out on the stump is going to make a good president (but sure, a few of them probably have better shots at being "great" presidents).

Gimme Gossip

Just like my interactions with the staffers, the media forms opinions of the campaign teams too. In New Hampshire, the media in particular didn't like the staffers on one of the campaigns (I'll refrain from saying which). Long story short, all summer long I heard photographers, AP wire staffers, and people with funny looking journalist-ish hats repeat negative commentary aimed at not a candidate, but their staff. It was almost comical.

Speaking of the media, they're a circus. I met some really nice folks with publications this summer. I also met some, er...interesting characters. Long story short, I think the freelance photographers out here are probably just as bad as the ones following Paris Hilton. Anything to get a shot, and all that jazz.

So What's Gonna Happen in NH?

In 99% of scenarios I envision, unlike most folks, I think the Democratic nominee will probably be decided prior to the February 5th "Tsunami Tuesday." Right now we're looking at primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina, and Florida prior to the 5th. In most scenarios I see, I think the real tipping point will come down to what happens in New Hampshire. Of course I'll have more on all of this in the coming weeks, but ultimately I think the order of these early primaries matters immensely, and I think it'll have the most impact for Barack Obama.

On the GOPer side, I see a few possibilities. However, from what I've seen in New Hampshire and nationally so far, I think a likely pick will be Mitt Romney. I couldn't be more pleased. He's gonna be a cake walk.

And was this whole Project a success?

It's been a good summer. Uncontrollable, sure (what's that they say? "You don't take a trip, a trip takes you."), but good nonetheless. Talking to friends over the past few days I've been asked if I thought the project was a success. In my opinion it was. My personal goal with BSB has always been influencing elections (I think I share this with Russell, we both have pretty deep seated opinions on how blogs can influence the big game). Well, over the course of the summer BSB got into the mainstream media in some form well over 80 times - including on numerous television newscasts. On multiple occasions we broke all-time site traffic records, got about 200 new, unique links in from other websites, and all those other god stats that show you your content is getting out there. To top it off, we made a lot of new friends in the blog and campaign world that aren't going away anytime soon. And the cream on top of the peaches is that some of the content we produced this summer is going to be referenced well into the 2008 campaign. Also, I think everything that happened in New Hampshire this summer was taken well back home by Ohio political insiders, which I believe will ultimately help the credibility of all progressive blogs in the buckeye state. In my book, that's a decent summer for the Ohio crew.

And Now To the Sunset?

I'll be on vacation through Friday. However, I've already started talking with folks back home about another "project" of sorts. Not too much on this one for a while, but as I've said in confidence to folks all along, the New Hampshire Project felt more like the start of the '08 cycle to me than a one-off fun trip to the granite state. The '08 cycle's activity is like the rising tide, it's coming up on the banks of New England, Iowa, and Nevada right now, but we can hear it distantly in Ohio. One day folks will go to bed in Columbus with word of the flurry on NBC Channel 4 as they fall asleep, and in a snap overnight it'll be in full fledge force in Ohio. And unlike any campaign we've ever experienced, it'll be in full force winding around Erie, and the Great Miami, and the Ohio like a perfect storm for well over 6 months.

Thanks

Finally, thanks to everyone that initially supported the project - those that helped with the planning and project conceptualization, everyone with advice, the donors, the politico's that came onboard (I'll have more on y'all when I come back), the suggestions via email, and everyone that read along. Thanks to the staffers on all the campaigns, the candidates, and folks that helped me get word out about what was going on in New Hampshire. It was a helluva ride, and I couldn't have done it on my own.

And with that, I'm off. See ya' on Friday.