New Hampshire’s biggest city is always an important place for Democratic Presidential candidates.
Over the years, the Queen city has tended to favor moderate Democrats, like Jimmy Carter in 1976 or Bill Clinton in 1992.
Plenty of the traits Manchester Democrats prized then--- like fiscal conservatism--- are still prized today.
But there are forces that are reshaping the city’s political makeup and some observers say in a general election, Democrats had better take notice.
New Hampshire Public Radio’s David Darman has more.
At the heart of the city’s west side Chez Vachon is the kind of place where locals gather for simple food and frank conservation.
Ed Moquin and George Papageorge eat breakfast here often.
For years, they and their friends have discussed hunting, politics and a lot more.
They say the West side is a lot different than it used to be.
It was like, I don’t want to say a French ghetto but it was heh heh heh a French area. …you had the greek section the polish, the german, they all seemed to congregate together. Yeah, their little ethnic groups, and they voted a certain way. … they were FDR democrats. And then that sort of died out when that generation faded.
Until 30 years ago, Democratic presidential nominees could normally rely on Manchester’s working class to vote for them.
UNH professor Dante Scala says from the 1930’s through the 70’s Democrats could bank on strong, local support.
But by the end of the 70’s, Scala says many city voters found themselves at odds with national democrats on social issues.
…. when Ronald Reagan came along, in 1980 and ran on those issues, you know tough on crime, tough on welfare, pro life, he found a warm welcome from Manchester Democrats because those working class, white Catholic Democrats said, finally, someone who understands me, because my party no longer understands me and I no longer understand them.
Democratic operatives are keenly aware that the city has undergone a kind of tidal shift, but that news was not universally bad.
In some places, they lost strength, in others they gained.
Manchester native Kathy Sullivan is former state Democratic party chairman.
I remember when I was a kid growing up, ward 6 in Manchester was always a very reliable democratic ward. Ward 8 again very reliable democratic ward. Now they tend to be swing sections. The north end of Manchester, wards one and wards 2 were very strong republican areas, very much so. That’s flipped, and they’ve become almost reliably democratic.
But in terms of overall voter registration, the city has become less Democratic.
Republican Raymond Wieczorek is an Executive Councilor and former five term Manchester mayor.
He says as recently as two decades ago, Democratic voters vastly outnumbered members of the GOP.
In the city of Manchester, the registration was 2 Democrats to every Republican in the city of Manchester. Now, that is down to like 1500 more democrats than republicans in the city of Manchester. Neither one is really the major party. (be)cause now the independents are the largest party in the city as they are the largest party in the state.
Manchester is still a hub of Democratic activity.
In the current primary contest, frontrunning Democrats Hilary Clinton and Barak Obama have held mega events there.
The candidates know they are attracting people from outside the city.
Looking ahead to the general election, UNH’s Dante Scala says wise candidates will pay attention to the towns that ring Manchester.
Nowadays, where you see growth in the democratic party is not so much in Manchester anymore, it’s much more out in the towns in places like Merrimack, and further out route 101 into western Hillsboro County. It’s not so much in Manchester anymore. So if you want to see the future of the democratic party, you’d probably look out into the towns. That’s where the great growth prospects are for the democratic party.
In the meantime, Manchester remains a place of importance for the party’s candidates.
The city still has about ten percent of the state’s registered voters, and that’s too big a group to ignore.
