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Outside, protesters and supporters make lots of noise

By JOSEPH G. COTE
Nashua Telegraph Staff
June 4, 2007

MANCHESTER – A light but unrelenting mist wasn’t enough to quench the passion of hundreds of demonstrators picketing, singing, chanting and shouting outside Sunday night’s Democratic debate at Saint Anselm College.

Roadways lined with political signs led to a campus parking lot that was awash with activity and noise almost two hours before the debates began.

Supporters of particular candidates and interest group champions spent the time leading up to the debates in barely separated groups with signs aloft, chants swelling and ebbing with inflatable noise makers and bells adding to the cacophony.

“Ed-wards! Ed-wards! Ed-wards,” shouted supporters of former North Carolina senator John Edwards.“Let’s go Dodd! Let’s go Dodd,” countered if not the largest, definitely the loudest, group supporting Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd.

A group of supporters of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama drowned out New York Sen. Hillary Clinton’s supporters with “OOOOOOOOO-bama.”

Most demonstrators said they were out in the rain either as a show of support for their candidate of choice or to take advantage of the media presence to spread the word about their pet issue, such as Maxine Mosley, a counselor at Manchester’s McLaughlin Middle School.

“Education should be at the forefront of the discussion,” the National Education Association representative said. “We’re here to advocate.”

Larry and Colleen Wert of Hillsboro were at the rally with PrioritiesNH, a group advocating a shift in budgetary priorities to emphasize education, health care and energy independence.

“We’re going to stay right out here and inform people,” Larry Wert said.

“You can’t care if you don’t know,” Colleen Wert added.

PrioritiesNH and the NEA were two of several issue-centric organizations hoisting signs and circulating petitions. AARP, the Sierra Club, New Hampshire for Health Care, more than one group claiming the U.S. government was either complicit in the Sept. 11 attacks or didn’t properly investigate them in the aftermath, and the One campaign – a group urging candidates to commit to solving the poverty and AIDS crisis in Africa – were all on hand.

Zo Tobi, a Nashua resident, was representing the Sierra Club’s Sierra Student Coalition and trying to elevate the issue of global warming in the political arena. Rallies are a perfect forum to get the message out to voters who care, he said.

“These are some of the most active members of the voting public,” he said.

Other people, such as Judi Lanza of Goffstown and Sue Kelly of Bedford, were attending their first political rally to support Clinton.

“It’s electric, exciting,” Kelly said. “It’s grassroots, and we’re here. This is what it’s all about.”

Dan Russo made a three-hour drive from Middletown, Conn., to support Dodd.

“It’s a show of support,” he said. “Partly, it’s to show the people of New Hampshire that he deserves their attention. Hopefully he can earn their support.