Speaking to a packed house at Saint Anselm College’s Institute of Politics Monday evening, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia made clear he wasn’t there to ask for support for his personal political ambitions. No, he said: He was there, in New Hampshire, roughly six months before the next presidential primary, with a much bigger goal in mind.
“I’m not here running for president tonight,” Manchin said. “I’m here trying to basically save the nation.”
Manchin was one of a handful of political figures on hand Monday for the rollout of what the bipartisan group No Labels, which has for years pushed for a less partisan political atmosphere, calls its “Common Sense” agenda.
Speaking to a crowd that included Gov. Chris Sununu, plenty of self-identifying moderates, and curious functionaries from both the state Republican and Democratic parties, Manchin, a centrist Democrat who has hinted at a third-party run for president in 2024, repeatedly cast his mission — and that of No Labels — as bigger than any single election.
Also on stage Monday night was former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, who ran for president as a Republican in 2012 and who described No Labels' vision in similar terms used by Manchin.
“The common sense majority in America has no voice right now,” said Huntsman, who served as Ambassador to China under President Barack Obama, and Ambassador to Russia under President Donald Trump..
The agenda No Labels released Monday featured 30 issues. It included balancing the federal budget, tightening border security, reducing health care costs and improving education.
Beyond these broad, rather breezy goals, specific details were scant. But few at the event seemed to mind.
“I wouldn’t worry about the policies so much, just the divisiveness alone has turned many Americans away from the idea of a good, open political system,” Sununu told a swarm of reporters.
Sununu has been talked up — by the Wall Street Journal, and by Huntsman, who referred to Sununu from the Saint Anselm stage as “our best governor” — as a potential member of a No Labels presidential ticket. But Sununu was quick to emphasize that his bipartisanship extends only so far.
“No, I’m a Republican,” Sununu said.
And again, for emphasis: “I’m a Republican.”
Prominent New Hampshire Democrats have also moved fast to draw bright lines when it comes to No Labels.
Party Chairman Ray Buckley derided the group as fueled by shadowy, wealthy donors who seek “to knock out President Biden and pave the way for another four years of scandal and division with Donald Trump.”
Democratic Congresswoman Annie Kuster, who in 2013 joined a No Labels Congressional “problem solvers” caucus, also criticized Monday’s New Hampshire event.
“Let me be clear: No Labels is trying to use a false message of unity to sow division.” Kuster said.
The claim that backing No Labels would harm Biden’s re-election effort may persuade some New Hampshire voters. But many who turned out to see Manchin and Huntsman said, given the state of American politics, a third party ticket is worth a try.
“The worst outcome would be that politics continues to be divisive, like it has been,” Ellen Mohnkern, of Bedford, said as she left the event.
Across the street, a truck carried an electronic sign paid for by the anti-Trump Lincoln Project. It read: “No Labels Elects Trump.”
