Back in April, we aired a segment in our Primary Place series about a group of retired Democrats. They had just begun regular meetings at the Loaf and Ladle restaurant to help focus their thinking about the presidential candidates. This month, New Hampshire Public Radio’s Jon Greenberg got together with the group again. They started out undecided, now most of them have made up their minds.
I’ll give away the tally right at the top. Out of seven Democrats, two women support Hillary Clinton, two men are behind Barack Obama, one man is with Bill Richardson and one couple is undecided. Their differences have had little effect on their conversation. Frank Heffron likes Obama.
CUT We don’t debate the merits of the candidates. I might throw in a few subtle things that might help persuade //laughter // but that has not been the focus of our discussion.
Instead, they talk about foreign policy, the nature of politics and the big domestic issues. On this day, they start energetically with a new book on consumer driven health care . Virginia Daschbach, a Clinton supporter, gives a brief summary.
CUT She has several examples in there of nonprofit hospitals which make huge profits and charge the indigent patient, which is their mission to serve, the highest price allowable.”
Jim Webber, one of the undecided voters and the man who loaned Virginia the book, reacts.
CUT Thank you for that extraordinary report. I read the book and I didn’t get anything like that out of it.// laughter
If everyone had this much fun talking policy, America would have one impressive electorate. For Jim’s wife, Joan, these meetings have been something of an awakening. She has never followed a presidential race as much as she has this one.
CUT I’m really a political animal to some extent, but I didn’t know it.”
For all the policy talk though, a quality of the candidates that makes a big difference to these voters is more ephemeral. It is leadership. John Flacket, who has come down in favor of Obama, finds most of the Democratic plans quite alike. The issue for him is, who will be able to get any of them through congress.
CUT Do I have confidence that he or she has something about them, some presence, that they will be able to persuade other people. That’s what I’m looking for.”
Members of this group are very satisfied with their presidential options. But looking back, their assessment of how the primary itself has played out this year is decidedly mixed. Pat Yosha, a self-described raging feminist and Clinton fan, saw a disappointing side of the press. Pat describes a photo of Clinton that appeared recently in the Boston Globe.
CUT: It was only her feet, gold pointed shoes or boots. And through it, you could see Bill Clinton sitting there. What’s the point? That he’s directing her campaign? I don’t know. It had a negative impact I thought. And I find it an imbalance. I find it unfair and sexist.
For Richard Daschbach, the Richardson supporter in this crowd, the accelerated primary schedule drastically undermined the traditions of retail politicking. Candidates rarely met with small groups and most events were framed for the television cameras, not the exchange of views with citizens.
CUT: I think the NH primary has been swallowed by the national whale and there are really no unique experiences that NH people are having.”
Several of Richard’s friends beg to differ. They have had the chance to see and take the measure of the candidates. Jim, a management consultant, has had the opportunity to apply his own carefully constructed four part rubric. He looks at leadership, resume, managerial skill, and a fourth quality, what Jim calls, a sense of what’s important.
CUT: Just being able to feel the mood of the people. And I think that the candidates have done that. That all these meetings have influenced them, somewhat. So that’s my schema// Well, I’m curious. Have you reached any conclusions about the candidates?// Well, my approach has left me totally undecided// laughter”
If the experience of these seven people has revealed anything, it is that cool rational decision making only gets you so far in picking a president. But if making an informed choice has been the motivation for these meetings, it hasn’t been the sole political outcome. Politics happens anytime a group of people get together regularly to figure out what’s best for the common good.
For NHPR News, I’m Jon Greenberg.
