Tigers take on New Hampshire primary

MANCHESTER, N.H. — While none of the seven contenders for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination hail from Princeton, University students and alumni are providing full-time support as wives, daughters, campaign staffers and volunteers determined to convince voters that their favorite will be the most likely to defeat President Bush in the general election this November.

In the days leading up to last Tuesday's New Hampshire primary, students stood at street corners holding signs in subzero wind-chills for up to 12 hours a day. They downed coffee and Red Bull to survive 4 a.m. literature drops at the doorsteps of undecided voters. They drove elderly citizens to polling stations to vote in the election that sets the tone for primaries across the nation.

Cate Edwards '04 toured with her father, presidential contender Sen. John Edwards, to greet his supporters and meet a few fans of her own, while alumna Judith Steinberg Dean '75 left her Vermont medical practice to support her husband, Gov. Howard Dean.

Behind the frenzied campaign trails, alumni worked 100-hour weeks in offices across the state. Less than 24 hours after polls closed, they caught flights to headquarters in the seven states that will hold the next round of voting tomorrow.

This is the first in a series of articles exploring Princetonians' efforts and adventures in the days leading up to the New Hampshire primary.

Sen. John Kerry won the Jan. 27 primary with 38 percent of the vote, compared to 26 percent for Dean, who was widely considered the front-runner until he came in third in the Iowa caucuses a week earlier.

Retired Gen. Wesley Clark took in about 12 percent of the vote, edging out Edwards for third by 0.4 percent.

And in an election in which fewer than 500 voters determined the difference between third and fourth — the usual divide between the viable and unelectable — the volunteers' efforts did not go unappreciated.

"I've seen you carrying the signs in the morning, on the corners," Clark said primary night to an audience that included a dozen Princeton students. "I've seen you late at night with your heads bowed over the tables, making the last telephone calls. You are magnificent, and I thank you."

While their friends were enjoying Cancun's sun or skiing Vermont's slopes, more than 40 Princeton students braved the coldest primary season in decades to volunteer in the campaign headquarters of Clark, Dean, Edwards and Sen. Joseph Lieberman.

They lugged sleeping bags from one town to the next, never entirely sure where they would catch their few hours of sleep. Lodgings ranged from a dilapidated Victorian mansion students referred to as the "Crackhouse" to a quaint bed-and-breakfast complete with checkered quilts and crackling fires.

Throughout the state, voters offered their homes, food and opinions to the out-of-state volunteers. North Hampton resident Scott Williams housed more than a dozen Princeton students — many of whom slept lined up barracks-style on the floor of his presidential library — and talked politics with them late into the night.

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Strangers struck up conversations in restaurants and hotel lobbies, offering encouragement to those wearing buttons for the same candidate and engaging their rivals in friendly debates. Ubiquitous campaign signs dueled at street corners of sleepy towns, and stickers invaded the toilet seats of public bathrooms.

"It's like the primary never stops here," said Nick Panagopoulos, a junior at the University of New Hampshire. "Everyone's involved in a campaign for someone, [even if] it's just a button on their backpacks."

The media fueled the fervor, trailing candidates into elementary schools and grocery stores. Identifying oneself as an undecided voter at campaign events virtually guaranteed hordes of reporters lined up for interviews afterward.

Deluged by phone calls and campaign literature, some residents found their patience wearing thin. New London resident Karen Ebel admitted the constant calls got annoying, but added, "It impressed me that the candidates could get that much enthusiasm from college students."

Others were openly hostile to the volunteers, cursing at the callers or telling them to stop littering their towns with signs. But neither a chilly reception nor single-digit temperatures could diminish the students' energy.

"It's actually easier to be enthusiastic when it's cold," explained Clark supporter Philip Van Stockum '06, "because if you don't move around fast, then you die."

Volunteers were so zealous that even their fellow campaign workers were concerned. Students awaiting Edwards' arrival outside a Portsmouth church were advised by a staffer to go inside if they couldn't feel their fingers. "We don't want to be responsible for frostbite," he told them.

Election Day found students standing outside polling stations after waking up before dawn to stake out a spot. When the last poll closed at 8 p.m., they headed to the victory parties of their respective candidates.

Some had already made plans to travel to Delaware the following Saturday, and all were determined to support whichever candidate the country's Democrats nominate to challenge President Bush.

Though no students were actually working for the winner of the primary, few seemed discouraged. They agreed campaigning had let them participate in a government that often seems far removed from the everyday citizen.

"You become closer to the democratic process," Alexander Djerassi '06 said. "When you are shaking hands and trading opinions and educating and be educated about candidates and political statements, that is the closest you can come to witnessing democracy at work."