Live free or die, baby....

I know that New Hampshire hosts the first presidential primary in the country, but I really didn't understand the scope. When a campaign solicitor called for Johnny from the John Edward's camp, asking for him to come to a speech that was going to take place in town, I didn't completely dismiss the woman when she said she would call back for him later. While in Seattle, she called again and left a message with the day and time that he would be in Peterborough. Even though I had taken an unexpectedly long hike around the Edward MacDowell Lake, I thought, when am I going to have another chance to witness a speech first hand by a presidential candidate? I found out, while talking to some other ladies at the speech, that Giuliani visited the Peterborough Diner last week and that Bill Richardson was to visit the next day. OK, so ALL the presidential candidates come through Peterborough...wow, I really have a chance to get a feel from these folks firsthand.

So I headed down to Depot Square this past Thursday, signed in and slapped a John Edwards '08 sticker on my chest. I got to town at 4pm, with the appearance to begin at 4:15. The chairs were set up in four or five rows of concentric circles and I thought, what the heck, screw it, I'm going to push off my urge to stand or sit in the back and instead, sit in the front row. Since I was in the front row, I was given a sign to hold and had a perfect view of John and his wife, Elizabeth, and snapped some pics. They came down into the middle of the circle of chairs at 4:45. After a very brief introduction, Elizabeth Edwards spoke for a few minutes, which gave me time to really take the both of them in. He was very serious and his expression didn't really change. I guess I was kind of surprised how informal the whole thing was. Elizabeth, wearing her oversize, somewhat hippie shoes and John in a dress shirt and slacks, but rolled up sleeves and sand all over his shoes. Their daughter with her kids, also in the front row, having to leave 1/3 of the way through, because they got so restless. He spoke and answered questions for about 40 minutes.

John Edwards came across to me as a straight-talker....he didn't seem to overly rely on what I expected to be his brand of southern charm. But he was a lawyer for over 20 years, so I'm sure that he knows well how to craft his words. And I'm sure I went into it looking for a good alternative. I've been a bit of a Chris Dodd supporter, but can feel his campaign slowing down (even though I haven't paid much attention lately, and did it really get off the ground in the first place?) and am really looking for an alternative to Obama and Hillary. I tell ya, Edwards might be the person. I was wary of him at first, but he seems to have views that I can support. Closing Gitmo on his first day in office. Beginning to pull out troops out of Iraq 50,000 at a time once his presidency starts and doing so in a reasonable amount of time. Universal helathcare. Cutting 80% of our carbon emissions by 2050, if not more. Building no more coal fired plants, unless the technology is there to create 0 emissions of CO2 (it's not). Diversifying our fuel base, but no more nuclear. Investing in hybrid car technology. Rebuilding the middle class. Boosting the poor. No more signing statements without the authors name. Accountability and transparency in the Executive Branch. Johnny tells me that I fall into the liberal democrat category almost perfectly - maybe I do. I still believe in grassroots efforts. I still believe in individuals making a difference. I'm an idealist, perhaps to a fault. I can be realistic, but don't take my idealism from me, I would completely deflate. I still hope that real, palpable transformation can take place in this country, so that I'm not, at times, questioning the legitimacy of my belief in this country. Will Edwards be the man? Did I shake the hand and listen to a speech only eight feet away from me of the next President of the United States? Perhaps....