Mill City Could Hold Key Primary Votes

By Trish Anderton on Friday, September 19, 2003.

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Candidates in the presidential primary tend to focus their efforts on southern New Hampshire and the Seacoast, where most of the population is.

But some observers say a pocket of Democrats in the North Country could play a crucial role in this election, too.

NHPR's Trish Anderton reports.

THE CITY OF BERLIN IS DEFINED BY ITS PULP MILL ? A CONCRETE HULK THAT LOOMS JUST ACROSS THE RIVER FROM DOWNTOWN. ITS IDEOLOGICAL LANDSCAPE IS SIMILARLY DOMINATED BY GOOD OLD-FASHIONED LABOR POLITICS.

24 142 mostly we?re still a bunch of blue collar dems, new dealers for the most part.

PAUL ROBITAILLE CHAIRS THE COOS COUNTY DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE AND LIVES IN NEIGHBORING GORHAM. HE?S A FORMER MILLWORKER HIMSELF.

you still got a heavy union turnout, so that makes a big big diff. // I think they tend to be more conserv in berlin gorham than dems in rest of state.

TO POLITICAL SCIENTIST DANTA SCALA, WINNING BERLIN IS ALL ABOUT ONE THING: JOBS.

time and again in nh primary we?ve seen working class dems attracted to traditional democrats with a bread and butter message about economic security and so forth, rather than reform minded dems like mcgovern or tsongas

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A STROLL DOWN BERLIN?S MAIN STREET CONFIRMS THAT DEMOCRATIC VOTERS ARE WORRIED ABOUT THE ECONOMY. LARRY BABERJACK IS A RETIRED BRICKLAYER. HE SAYS HE?S FED UP WITH PRESIDENT BUSH.

005 06 all you need to do is ask him where 3 million jobs went. that?s what hurts.

SO IS CURT EWALD, WHO?S ON DISABILITY.

15 45 this is wartime econ so you can run deficit and get away with it. //but we need jobs. we need a decent living. we?re gonna end up with a third world country in the middle of our country if we?re not careful.

CONCERNS ABOUT THE WAR IN IRAQ RUN NECK AND NECK WITH ECONOMIC ISSUES. REGISTERED NURSE JOANNE LARUE WORRIES ABOUT THE AMERICAN SOLDIERS.

I support them while they?re there, but I don?t want to see people from our country needlessly murdered or in harms way. what?s the plan gonna be. right now it seems like turmoil.

WITH A CROWDED FIELD AND THE PRIMARY STILL MONTHS AWAY, POTENTIAL VOTERS ARE STILL FORMING INITIAL IMPRESSIONS OF THE CANDIDATES. PEOPLE MENTION THE HIGHER-PROFILE NAMES LIKE HOWARD DEAN AND JOE LIEBERMAN. JOHN EDWARDS IS ALSO RAISING SOME INTEREST. OUT OF A SMALL AND COMPLETELY UNSCIENTIFIC SELECTION OF VOTERS, NOBODY MENTIONS DICK GEPHARDT. BUT THAT MAY CHANGE.

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GEPHARDT HAS A POWERFUL ALLY ? PACE LOCAL 75, THE MILLWORKERS UNION. IN HIS SECOND FLOOR OFFICE OVERLOOKING MAIN STREET, UNION PRESIDENT EDDIE DEBLOIS SAYS THE UNION ENDORSEMENT MEANS A LOT TO HIS MEMBERS, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO AREN?T BIG ON POLITICS.

11 148 for the ones that don?t follow that closely, and hteres a lot, they look to where their local and national union is going and a lot of the times it?s the way they?ll go.

THE MILL EMPLOYS HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE. BUT DEBLOIS SAYS EVEN THOSE WHO DON?T WORK THERE WILL FEEL THE UNION?S INFLUENCE.

11 50 we?ll do putting up signs, handing out flyers, we?ll try to get members to vol to make phone calls, go door to door. the last elex we went basically to every door in berlin gorham area. we?ll do whatever it takes to make dick gephardt next pres.

GEPHARDT HAS A LONGSTANDING FRIENDSHIP WITH ORGANIZED LABOR. UNIONS WERE ONE OF THE FIRST PLACES HE TURNED FOR SUPPORT IN HIS CAMPAIGN. FURTHERMORE, BERLIN VOTERS BACKED HIM STRONGLY IN 1988, HELPING HIM TO A SECOND-PLACE FINISH IN THE STATE. GEPHARDT HAS MADE ONE TRIP TO BERLIN THUS FAR, AND HIS CAMPAIGN SAYS HE EXPECTS TO MAKE MORE. HE?S ALSO OPENED AN OFFICE IN TOWN. BUT SCALA SAYS OTHER CAMPAIGNS ARE GIVING THE CONGRESSMAN A RUN FOR HIS MONEY.

33 150 lieberman for inst is talking about jobs jobs jobs. and edwards of course trumpets the fact that he?s the son of a millworker. if they?re going to make inroads into gep?s constituency, it shd be in places like berlin.

FURTHERMORE, DEAN AND JOHN KERRY HAVE OPENED BERLIN HEADQUARTERS. NOW, WITH JUST OVER 22-HUNDRED REGISTERED DEMOCRATS AND ABOUT 15-HUNDRED INDEPENDENTS, NOBODY?S SUGGESTING BERLIN WILL OVERSHADOW THE BIGGER CITIES TO THE SOUTH. BUT COUNTY CHAIR PAUL ROBITAILLE SAYS IF THE FIELD OF CANDIDATES STAYS LARGE, THE PAPER CITY COULD BECOME AN IMPORTANT PRIZE.

29 37 I think its gonna come down to a thousand votes here and there, maybe even less, bc you?re splitting up the percentages. they?re gonna be fighting over every single dem vote.

SUCCESS IN BERLIN COULD ALSO SERVE AS A POLITICAL BELLWETHER. DANTE SCALA ARGUES A CANDIDATE CAN WIN THE PRIMARY BY COURTING JUST THE SO-CALLED ELITE DEMOCRATS IN THE SOUTHERN PART OF THE STATE. BUT TO GO THE DISTANCE, HE SAYS, A POLITICIAN HAS TO WIN OVER WORKING CLASS VOTERS AS WELL.

32 00 someone who does well in peterborough and amherst might carry nh, but it might be the cand who does well in berlin or claremont or rochester who may have more staying power.

SO FOR GEPHARDT, THE BERLIN VOTE WILL BE A TEST OF HIS STRENGTH WITH HIS CORE CONSTITUENCY. FOR A CANDIDATE WHO PITCHES HIMSELF AS A REFORMER ? HOWARD DEAN, PERHAPS, or DENNIS KUCINICH ? IT?LL BE A CHANCE TO SEE WHETHER HIS MESSAGE HOLDS BROAD APPEAL. FOR NHPR NEWS I?M