Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards spent the last six days riding his "Real Solutions" bus around New Hampshire.
Edwards and his family took the trip to meet face to face with Granite State voters.
Last Friday, NHPR's David Darman caught up with the Edwards bus in Littleton, and files this report.
John Edwards made his first stop in town at the Coffee Pot, a small restaurant on Main Street.
The restaurant was full of customers at lunchtime, and Edwards started shaking hands right at the front door.
04 102 hellooo, how are you?
Good to meet you,
Bernie quiqly?they were all born in Winston salem north Carolina. They were not?.
04 134 b quigly?how do you all like being up here, in nh?
I like it here. People are very nice. Very receptive.
B yeah, this a good place. E a very good place. (glasses clink)
Once inside, Edwards moved from the lunch counter the handful of tables the restaurant offers, greeting voters one by one.
In the back of the restaurant, Edwards sat down, and took a question from the restaurant?s owner, Jeanne McKenna.
So, I just need to ask you, how are you handling healthcare for small businesses?
E tax credits. We ought to give big, serious tax credits to small businesses so they can pay for health care for their employees. I think .
how about some h/c for themselves.
E yeh, how about some healthcare for you? Yeh.
how about?
I think, actually, we ought to do two things. One is for small businesses, give tax credits to the business owner, you, in this case, and we also ought to give tax credits to the employees, to help them pay for their share of
Their premiums.
that?s a good answer. That would be awesome. 05 945
Edwards impressed many of the customers inside the restaurant.
B Elwin Sherman of Bethlehem works as a nurse.
He says Edwards has his vote.
09 41 He speaks well. He?s very articulate. I think he?s a very sincere man. I was very interested in particularly is views on health care issues, because I?m a nurse.
Other customers who met Edwards agreed that the North Carolina Senator was impressive in person.
But David Schaeffer of Franconia wasn?t ready to give Edwards his full support.
Well him Edwards here, kerry and dean. And I don?t think anyone else has a lick of a chance. 06 48
At stops along the way, Edwards talked about saving jobs, controlling rising health care costs, and problems with the new, federal education law, No Child Left Behind.
And he criticized President Bush for his handling of the situation in Iraq.
Perhaps not coincidentally, these are the issues where President Bush has the weakest support among voters, according to a recent Newsweek poll.
If this bus trip was designed to introduce Edwards to voters, it was also a chance for him to spend time with reporters.
As he relaxed between stops, Edwards talked at length about he?d improve the economy.
13 1841 first of all, I think we ought to be doing a better job of protecting the jobs that we have. And in order to that, I would put real teeth in our trade agreements, so we don?t just have free trade, we have fair trade. (off mike a bit) 1858 and the second thing I?d do, I mentioned this a minute ago is close these loopholes that give companies a reason to go overseas. 1902 Third, I would actually give a tax break to companies that would keep jobs, here in this country.1910
Edwards embarked on the six day bus tour knowing that he has to build support in the Granite State.
He polls consistently in the low single digits.
His strategy to pull himself out of the basement is to hold one hundred town meetings before the presidential primary next January.
On the bus riding out of Littleton, he said he thought the bus trip was helping to get the word out.
13 408?. I have more work to do. To make sure they know me better, know what my issues are, my positions are, what I want to do for the country. But clearly, as I go around the state, in this bus trip, the difference in response is pretty dramatic. We have big crowds almost everywhere we go. Lots of energy, lots of enthusiasm. We?re clearly moving in the right direction. 13 434
Edwards is scheduled to hold more town meetings this week.
But these meetings will not be in the Granite State.
They?re scheduled for South Carolina, another state with an early primary.
