In advance of the presidential primary, we have been following voters from the town of Exeter. Independents there, as in the rest of the state, were quite taken with Senator John McCain back in 2000, when McCain trounced George W. Bush. This year they are not so sure. As part of our series, Primary Place, New Hampshire Public Radio’s Jon Greenberg talked to some of Exeter’s independent voters to see what has changed in seven years.
In 2000, John McCain’s image was crystal clear to Exeter voters.
“He was kind of a maverick..."
“I absolutely beleived that John McCain was telling the truth..."
“I liked John McCain becuase he seemed to be truly independentâ€
These are the voices of three Exeter Independents who backed McCain 7 years ago; Gerry Hamel, Lee Williams and Peter Aten. It is far from certain that any of them will do that again.
SFX Hammering
We caught up with Gerry Hamel at a job site, a house in a well-wooded neighborhood just outside of Exeter.
Gerry’s 54 but looks much younger. He’s been working on houses for 35 years and now runs his own contracting company. The John McCain of 2000 struck him as someone who understood what his life was like.
"I thought he'd work for the middle class like myself, and I think the middle class right now, we're losing ground, and I thought he would be a person that would really try to help out"
Gerry says, under President Bush, things have gone berserk with booming oil company profits, huge government spending, and a war that in his view kills thousands, costs billions and accomplishes little. He faults McCain for failing to be a champion for an alternative path.
"I've been seeing him side more with the president...this whole thing on the war on terrorism. The money that we're spending on it, it's how much money is big business making on this stuff? I just don't think that our money should go to make big business bigger"
Gerry is not ready to vote for McCain again.
Peter Aten is another former McCain supporter who has lost his enthusiasm, but for a very different reason. Peter is a 43-year-old manager of information technology projects for an investment company. He and his family live in a stately house built in 1885 in Exeter.
We sit on his screen porch and Peter says he went into this election season predisposed to support McCain. His problem with the candidate started when McCain reached out to a key part of the Republican base, religious conservatives.
"The first thing that would have done that was his appearance at Jerry Falwell's university which he refused to appear at I think 8 years ago, and now he was appearing at and seemed to be a fairly blatent appeal to folks that are farther to the right and I'm concerned about what that means for him in terms of how he'll govern the country."
Not every Independent judges McCain so harshly.
SFX – outside
Near the river that runs through downtown Exeter, Lee Williams is sitting on a bench. She’s enjoying a day off from her job at a large Boston bank.
She voted for McCain because she saw him as a deficit hawk. Today, McCain is still on her list, but he isn’t alone.
"On major fundamental things for the health of this country I think he's got some good ideas"
"Would you then count yourself as a committed John McCain person at this point?"
"Absolutely not. I think Rudy Giuliani is a good man, I think he has very good ideas, we agree on some stuff, we disagree on some stuff"
But Lee could just as easily vote for Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama – all Democrats.
The 2006 election redrew the political map of New Hampshire. Across the board, Republicans lost and Democrats won and these Independent voters were part of that shift. By all indications, Independents are increasingly likely to show up on the Democratic side.
And the views they bring with them are not necessarily straight out of the party handbook. Here’s what Gerry has to say about social programs.
“You have to do things for people who don't have, but we've gotten to the point where we give so much to people who don't have, that they don't want to work, don't want to get out there and try...we give them housing, we give them food. It's almost like Socialism"
And Peter on Iraq.
“Our country made these decisions, we are where we are, I don't think it's appropriate for us to just pull out and leave a vacuum that will create a much worse situation"
And Lee on spending.
“We need to live like every one of our family lives, which is within our means. If it means difficult cuts, it means difficult cuts."
Independents outnumber Democrats in Exeter, as they do in the entire state. Their views are more centrist than those held by some in the Democratic base. If candidates want to go after them, and there is plenty of incentive to do so, they will have to meet them in the middle.
For NHPR News, I’m Jon Greenberg.
