On the Ground in NH: Bernie Camp in the Granite State

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Friday November 13, 2015 · 5:26 AM PST

2015/11/13 · 05:26

Bernie Camp, Concord, NH — Handbook for Bernie Camp

Saturday I went to Bernie Camp. What is that you say? Bernie Camp, it’s just about the best guided training and team building exercise I have ever participated in, and that includes some forty years of this type of experience at various levels in the business world. It was that good.

The day started with a visibility exercise in front of the IBEW Hall on Airport Road in Concord, site of the “camp”. Beeps and thumbs up from and passing cars greeted our Bernie signs in large numbers. As we joined the group, I was immediately impressed by the number of people present. We ended up with a turnout of 45 individuals who gave up their entire Saturday to become better volunteers for Bernie. These were folks of all ages who certainly had other things to do on these last days of clement weather, as we try to get buttoned up for winter here in NH.

But this was just one of seven locations in the Granite State, from Nashua to Conway and Portsmouth to Claremont, to host the first Bernie Camps. For more about this activity, please follow me below the fold.

CaptainPoptart

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Sunday October 11, 2015 · 11:27 AM PDT

2015/10/11 · 11:27

no image description available — Dave welcomes visitors to our Bernie table in Downtown New London

It was more than a month in planning, getting permissions from the town for the space, and engineering and preparing for our big tabling event in downtown New London NH this past Saturday, Oct 10th. To get it started off, Dave sums it up for us. Join us!

Dave welcomes visitors to our Bernie table in Downtown New London

It was a brisk autumn day in foliage season and we got a much better turnout for Bernie than we anticipated in deeply red New London.

Crowd scene from the New London tabling for Bernie event.

Follow me below the fold for a neat Bernie story and some good eye candy. Read More

On the Ground in NH: Campaigning for Bernie Sanders in the Granite State # 4

CaptainPoptart

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Sunday October 04, 2015 · 12:14 PM PDT

2015/10/04 · 12:14

Lake Sunapee Region for Bernie Team

Slightly less than two months ago, in the first diary in this series, I wrote that little attention was being paid in the media to the status of the ground game for the Bernie 2016 campaign in New Hampshire. In the eight weeks since then there has been a significant amount of coverage of the polling that shows him moving from fringe candidate to front runner in the Granite State, but still very little has been said about his campaign organization here.

Since volunteers make up such an important part of any political organization, and especially the Sanders movement, an update from the standpoint of a self organized group seemed appropriate. This model of the Lake Sunapee Region for Bernie, has lessons and applications that can be repeated as the election cycle goes beyond the small and predominantly white early primary states of Iowa and NH, and proceeds to states that are more demographically representative.

The status of the ground game has changed dramatically in two months time, and speaks volumes about the ability of the Sanders campaign to adapt to changing circumstances. In early August the entire organization here consisted of four paid staffers and a single field office in Concord. A brief mention in a NY Times article this past week is the most recent MSM reference I have been able to find on Bernie 2016 numbers:

Mr. Sanders has 49 paid workers in Iowa, 43 in New Hampshire, 21 at his campaign headquarters in Burlington, Vt., and 27 elsewhere. He also has 15 offices in Iowa and nine in New Hampshire.

For more on the formal campaign structure and how we have organized, join me below the fold. Read More

The UNH CNN/WMUR Poll: Why I Believe It Says Bernie Sanders is the Best Candidate

CaptainPoptart

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Sunday September 27, 2015 · 12:29 PM PDT

2015/09/27 · 12:29

The very important findings from a CNN/WMUR poll performed by the University of New Hampshire and released on Friday, were more or less buried by the news coverage of John Boehner’s resignation as Speaker of the House, even on this site. This continuous dominance of the press and the airwaves by the Republicans reinforces this notable fact from the poll itself:

One indication that there is less interest in the Democratic primary is that undeclared voters, often erroneously referred to as “independents”, are much less likely to say they plan to vote in the Democratic primary than they were in 2008. Currently, 41% of undeclared voters say they plan to vote in the Republican primary, 32% plan to vote in the Democratic primary, and 27% say they will not vote in either primary or are unsure which primary they would vote in. At this time in 2007, 46% of undeclared voters said they would vote in the Democratic primary, only 29% said they planned to vote in the Republican primary, and 25% said they would not vote in either primary or were unsure which primary they would vote in. (emphasis mine)

In this semi-open first in the nation primary state, undeclared voters make up a dominant segment of the registered voters at 44%, with Republicans following at 30% and Democrats at 26%, according to the office of the Secretary of State. Whatever opinion one has about the suitability of New Hampshire’s outsized role in presidential politics, both from a population and demographic composition perspective, voters here are paying more attention to the 2016 election than in other states and trends that occur here are likely to be repeated elsewhere.

There is little doubt that the continued refusal of the DNC and Wasserman Schultz to schedule more debates is hurting both candidates as overall voter registrations in NH are down 8.8% from Nov 2008 to June 2015, but Democratic numbers fall by 18.3% over the same period. Remember, when more people vote, we as Democrats win. So the damage that DWS and her cohorts are inflicting with their misguided attempts to shield HRC from debate exposure is real, and could have effects on races up and down the ballot in the general election.

For more on the poll findings and why I think they indicate that Bernie Sanders is the stronger candidate in both the primary and the general, head beneath the fold.

CaptainPoptart

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Sunday September 20, 2015 · 11:50 AM PDT

2015/09/20 · 11:50

Bleary eyed and sleep deprived, I arrived on the first busload of Sanders volunteers a little after 6:30 am at the Verizon Wireless Arena in downtown Manchester NH, meeting place for the New Hampshire Democratic Party Convention. As we filed off the bus, we were appalled to see that nearly every grassy area around the arena was covered with HRC yard signs. Meanwhile, a boisterous crowd of her supporters toting megaphones filled the sidewalk leading up to the venue’s entrance, despite the fact that the event wasn’t scheduled to begin until 9 am. As we removed our signs from the bus someone grumbled that the Hillary team must have been up all night setting up for the event. But as the Sanders busses continued to shuttle in supporters from the Manchester campaign headquarters, the equilibrium in signs and vocal enthusiasm was quickly established.

Chants of “Heh heh, ho ho, corporate greed has got to go” rivaled “HRC for 603”, a reference to New Hampshire’s sole telephone area code, as both groups vied for the attention of arriving convention goers. The O’Malley supporters though small in numbers, were vocally drawing the attention to “more debates”, while across the street groups of demonstrators protested things like the Keystone Pipeline and the Northern Pass electrical transmission lines project in NH. The American Friends were present along side the perennial Lyndon LaRouche supporters. All of this activity took place amidst a carnival like atmosphere, and the police for once were undoubtedly given orders to go easy on the participants, even when they were blocking the access to the event.

The presence of the world press and the State power brokers guaranteed an amazing instance of the exercise of free speech and peaceful and lawful assembly. If only this were the case in other parts of the country and at other protest venues. But for more on the goings on inside the convention please follow me below the fold.

CaptainPoptart

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Tuesday September 15, 2015 · 4:21 AM PDT

2015/09/15 · 04:21

Bernie's group in the Milford, NH Labor Day Parade

It’s been several weeks since my last diary on the Bernie 2016 New Hampshire campaign and the words that come to mind to describe this period are enthusiasm and momentum. This is true whether one looks at the public opinion polls or the developing organization on the ground. By this time Bernie’s rise to a statistically significant lead in several recent NH polls has become old news, but speaks volumes about his momentum. This growth is equally apparent in the formal campaign structure as this time.com article reports.

In early August, Sanders had just four paid staff members in New Hampshire; the campaign now has 37. The campaign has five offices as of Monday, but by the end of the week, there will be eight offices where volunteers can come phone bank, learn canvassing tips and get organized.

As Bernie’s message spreads the enthusiasm here in NH continues to build. From the same Time article:

On Monday, he completed a whirlwind tour at the southern end of the state, beginning at an AFL-CIO labor breakfast in Manchester before heading to a parade in Milford forty minutes south. There, Sanders led hundreds of supporters, outnumbering Hillary Clinton’s cohort by several times…

But excitement and enthusiasm are not sufficient by themselves, and the ground game is going to be all important if Bernie is to win in NH, and go on to the party’s convention with enough delegates to win the nomination. While one can make a valid argument that the state is not demographically representative of the country as a whole, New Hampshire voters are a politically savvy and sophisticated bunch. So the election here will be an important test of whether the grassroots political revolution with all its enthusiasm, can also be effective in GOTV efforts in more diverse states and later primaries. For a look at the current ground game there’s more below the fold. Read More

On the Ground in NH: Campaigning for Bernie Sanders in the Granite State #2

CaptainPoptart

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Monday August 24, 2015 · 3:52 AM PDT

2015/08/24 · 03:52

Earlier this past week our NH volunteer group, Lake Sunapee Region 4 Bernie, held it’s first organizational meeting since the July 29th on-line/house party meet-up. 17 volunteers gathered at the Sunapee View B&B in Newbury for an exercise in retail politics New Hampshire style. We were joined by two field organizers from the Bernie 2016 NH State Organization for an evening dedicated to learning the best ways to coordinate with the campaign, as well as beginning the process of advanced planning of our grassroots activities.

Organizers speak to Lake Sunapee Region 4 Bernie volunteer group

Bernie 2016 field organizer Oliver Larken explains FEC rules to Lake Sunapee Volunteers

While our first meet-up last month yielded slightly higher numbers, the people who were in attendance this time were not just curiosity seekers, but those who will show up and do the work. The group was first eager to hear about the status of the state primary campaign, and the news we got was exciting. The campaign was rapidly adding professional staff in every aspect of operations, from field organizers and administrators to IT and data people. The effort was being led by State Director Julia Barnes and Political Director Kurt Ehrenberg, both highly experienced political operatives and campaigners.

After little more than a month at the single headquarters location in a Concord strip mall, the organization had outgrown the space and was moving to a larger location in Manchester, the state’s largest city. Meanwhile the Concord location will remain open as a field office, and the campaign is planning to add offices in Nashua, Keene, Portsmouth, Berlin, and Lebanon within the next month. As planned, this configuration will virtually blanket the state geographically and population center-wise. This news has the group really fired up, since the Lake Sunapee Region is the geographic midpoint between Concord and Lebanon, and we intend to do our best to play our part in turning out the vote for Bernie in this section of the Granite State. For more on this grassroots organizing effort please slip below the fold.

Poll

56 votes Show Results

What is the status of the Bernie 2016 campaign in your area?

56 votes Vote Now!

What is the status of the Bernie 2016 campaign in your area?

Well organized state level and volunteer operations

12 votes

Loosely organized individual grassroots effort

25 votes

Apparently nothing happening with little to no organization

9 votes

No clue.

10 votes

Bernie vs. Hillary: What is Fair Coverage?

CaptainPoptart

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Wednesday August 12, 2015 · 8:11 AM PDT

2015/08/12 · 08:11

After breakfast this morning, I went to my computer and Daily Kos first thing as usual. At the top of the front page was the Abbreviated Pundit Round-up: Hillary, Bernie, and Black Lives Matter. I will just reference the first line of both articles mentioned from CNN and Vox respectively:

Secret Service agents on Tuesday kept five people in #BlackLivesMatter T-shirts from entering a Hillary Clinton event in New Hampshire, but the candidate later met with them in an overflow room set up near the event.
.../...
This is really just the latest mutation of an ongoing conflict. Right now, the two sides are Black Lives Matter activists and Bernie Sanders supporters. But white economic progressives and left-leaning activists of color have been struggling over what it means to be a progressive for decades.

How does that express the reality of the two camps? After the NN kerfuffle Bernie offered to talk to #BLM and those individuals refused, yet HRC gets credit for barring them from the event and meeting them after? And we who support Bernie are "white economic progressives" who don't care about #BLM and have a problem with people of color? That's just pure bullshit. Sounds like "Fair and Balanced" coverage to me.

I then looked at the rec. list and at the top, and as I'm writing this, is a diary un-skewing the Boston Herald poll that is the first to put Bernie ahead in NH. I won't link to the diary, you can all find it easily enough. Suffice it to say the diary is full of conspiracy theories about the right wing slant of the poll in question. "Right-wing Herald, Fitzwater, and..." mumble, mumble..."the interviews are conducted by students..." mumble mumble. Whenever there is positive polling for Bernie we're told to ignore it because, polls.

But my point is that I see all of this before I even know the poll results. Granted, it's my choice in what I read, but the slant here at DKOS is currently so far tilted towards Hillary it makes me want to leave the site, and it undoubtedly has that effect on many people. But the more I think about it, the more it seems to me that's probably exactly what they want us to do. So here I stay.

I’m not saying let’s sing kumbaya and all get along, but we can at least agree to be fair and accurate with each other in advancing our forcefully held positions. I'm a strong Bernie supporter and I believe there is a place for us here, because like it or not we make up a large part of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. I promise that I will always try to respond in a positive matter in diaries or comment threads, and admit when the opponent has a valid point. I invite you all to do the same. Let's be fair in our reporting (and that goes for the site gremlins), balanced in our comments, and let the best man or woman win.

On the Ground in NH: Campaigning for Bernie Sanders in the Granite State #1

CaptainPoptart

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Monday August 10, 2015 · 3:30 AM PDT

2015/08/10 · 03:30

A recent post in a Daily Kos comment thread triggered the thought that little attention is being paid to the current status of the ground game for the Bernie 2016 campaign. This diary is a look at the state of the campaign organization on the ground in one location in rural NH. Perhaps more importantly, it is also an attempt to answer the question: How do we get from where we stand today, to his nomination as the Democratic candidate next summer? We are now almost exactly six months to the day from the first in the nation primary, and there is much work to do.

Bernie volunteers registering Town Hall Meeting attendees

Bernie’s recent surge in early primary state polls has caught many political observers by surprise, since he has already surpassed the 20% level of support that the conventional wisdom had as his ceiling. What was supposed to be a far left fringe candidacy has gone mainstream very quickly, as demonstrated by the fact that he is drawing crowds in the tens of thousands. Meanwhile both his Democratic and Republican competitors are speaking to gatherings a fraction of that size.

But crowd size and early poll numbers do not replace a structured primary campaign organization. So the question must be asked, how do his supporters capitalize on and maintain the momentum from the huge success of his on-line organizing event last month? Head below the fold to find out our status and what you can do to help.

Poll

101 votes Show Results

What is the status of the Bernie 2016 campaign in your area?

101 votes Vote Now!

What is the status of the Bernie 2016 campaign in your area?

No follow-up from the July 29th event.

22 votes

Small group of supporters seeking direction.

20 votes

Well organized group starting campaign activities.

21 votes

No clue.

38 votes

Bernie in Claremont NH: A view from the Crowd's Perspective

CaptainPoptart

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday August 03, 2015 · 4:54 AM PDT

2015/08/03 · 04:54

Bernie Introduced by Son

New Hampshire has a reputation for, and long history of retail politics. This is one of the main reasons put forth for it’s first in the nation Presidential Primary status, despite the fact that it hardly represents the rest of the country from a demographic point of view. To most of us residents of this mostly white, mostly rural early primary state, that means meeting the candidate in someone’s living room or at a local diner or coffee shop. It is a retail politics that has always forced the candidates to garner votes one ballot at a time.

But if this past weekend is any indication, Bernie Sanders is turning this paradigm upside down. He is gathering his votes in the thousands at a time, and complains jokingly of having trouble finding venues large enough to hold the crowds that want to hear his message. The crowds were large and definitely feeling the Bern.

Saturday at Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, Bernie spoke to an audience of about a thousand, according to an estimate from an activist friend who attended the town hall meeting. I am using this figure because on their respective websites, the Manchester Union Leader, the paper of record in NH, did not cover the event and WMUR, the states lone tv station briefly stated:.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (D, Vermont) drew a big crowd Saturday in the Granite State.(emphasis mine)

He followed the SNHU address with a packed Exeter Town Hall, for yes, another town hall meeting.

Sunday, after talking to overflow crowds at the American Legion Hall in Rollinsford and the Bessie Rowell Community Center in Franklin, Bernie held his 5th event of the weekend with a crowd of around 500 at the Common Man Inn & Restaurant in Claremont NH, attendance according to a senior campaign staffer. I was fortunate to have a seat in the ballroom where Bernie spoke to 200, with an overflow room and more people outside. Please share my view from the floor at this event below the fold.

CaptainPoptart

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Sunday July 26, 2015 · 7:51 PM PDT

2015/07/26 · 19:51

Just how urgent an issue is Climate Change, and where should it be ranked in importance in Bernie’s message? Is he right to make this a top priority? These are some of the questions that appeared to get lost in the discussions here over the past week or so.

While some said #BLM is more important than any other issue, economic equality vs. that rigged for the benefit of the 1% was argued by others. Each side had valid and convincing arguments. But they both seem to be trumped by the fact that if we don’t keep fossil fuels in the ground right now to limit greenhouse gas emissions, we may not need to worry about police brutality or wealth inequality in my lifetime, and I’m sixty-six years old. Even waiting for a new POTUS to address this may be too long.

Please follow me below the squiggle to find out why.

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On the Ground in NH: Bernie Camp in the Granite State

On the Ground in NH: Tabling for Bernie in the Granite State (Photo Diary)

On the Ground in NH: Campaigning for Bernie Sanders in the Granite State # 4

The UNH CNN/WMUR Poll: Why I Believe It Says Bernie Sanders is the Best Candidate

On the Ground in NH: Bernie vs Hillary at the Granite State Democratic Convention

On the Ground in NH: Campaigning for Bernie Sanders in the Granite State #3

On the Ground in NH: Campaigning for Bernie Sanders in the Granite State #2

Bernie vs. Hillary: What is Fair Coverage?

On the Ground in NH: Campaigning for Bernie Sanders in the Granite State #1

Bernie in Claremont NH: A view from the Crowd's Perspective

Why Bernie Is Right to Focus on Climate Change