squidpants

so we got to Manchester, NH yesterday at about 5 pm. The city has about a foot of snow, at least, but it's hard to judge because most of it is piled up in enormous drifts pushed there by plows. The city is full of political signs, including a fair amount of the long shots like Duncan Hunter, Mike Gravel, and Kucinich. And the Dodd headquarters was an empty storefront with tons of signs in the windows, with the lights still on, so it was eerie looking.

We ate at a place downtown called JW Hill's, then called the Obama folks. They said "come to HQ and meet us, then we'll all go drink beer and watch the debate." Sweet. What they didn't mention is that it's a 45 minute walk from downtown to Obama HQ, and when we got there, they told us we'd be doing "visibility" and not drinking. I guess that's a good way to get volunteers to do work - "hey dudes, come and drink beer."

Visibility is basically the dumbest thing you can do, you just stand there and wave signs as cameras look at you. We were in a snowy field outside St. Anselm's College, where the debates were being held. There were probably 100 people there already, mainly from Obama, Hillary, and Ron Paul, with a smattering of Kucinich people with tape over their mouths (because he wasn't allowed to debate). We were in the back row, and it basically devolves to holding your sign and chanting over and over, despite the fact that there's nobody there to see. And it's not like that's going to win over anybody - "Well I liked Obama, but the incessant 'Hill-ary! Hill-ary! Hill-ary!' convinced me otherwise."

So we grabbed a cab and headed back to town, to the bar where people were watching the debate. The cabby was pretty weird, there was a woman in the passenger seat and he told us he was going to get road head and stuff.

The bar was a big place called Milly's located inside a mill. There are a bunch of old mills around Manchester (Manch-vegas to the locals). They're these huge old brick buildings that stretch for a city block.

The scene there was funny, there was a crappy local-rap metal band called Killfuck was playing, joined by a smattering of fans wearing Killfuck bowling shirts and stuff. Then in the other part of the bar there was a room packed with people watching the debates, but completley silent. So that was boring. I played a kid in foosball and talked with a few other similarly bad volunteers, two NJ girls who got tired of doing visibility and came to the bar.

Soon enough we left and went to JDs, a bar inside the main hotel in town where all the politicos go. Inside the bar were Sam Donaldson, Chris Matthews, Donna Brazile, Eleanor Clift, and a few other media types. It's funny to try and pick out the campaign staffers, they stick out. A lot of the younger types wear their ID badges around like medals - in D.C. that makes you a douchebag. Plus it was some guy's birthday so we got cake.

Then we went to Strange Brew, by far the best bar in the city. It's a good local place with tons of local beers and a blues band. Much better scene than the debate watchers/rap metal doofuses and the kids trying to talk to Donna Brazile at the other places.

Not sure what's happening today, we slept in way past when we were supposed to contact the Obama folks. We are not good volunteers.