McCain Warmly Welcomed in Granite State Town Hall
[2008-12-23 17:03:34]
McCain Warmly Welcomed in Granite State Town Hall
John McCain McCain Warmly Welcomed at Granite State Town Hall
By Juliet Eilperin
PETERBOROUGH, N.H. -- As his campaign nears its end, John McCainconvened a town hall meeting tonight in New Hampshire, the statethat has sustained his presidential aspirations during the darkesttimes.
McCain's first-place finish in New Hampshire in 2000 made him aserious contender against George W. Bush, though it failed to carryhim through the rest of the primaries. Nearly eleven months ago,winning here put him on the path to securing his party'snomination. While only a couple of dozen people showed up eightyears ago when he held one of his first town halls here, tonight acrowd of more than 2,000 supporters stood out in the cold to greethim, while another 400 waited inside to see him speak.
Cindy McCain alluded to her husband's winning record in NewHampshire in her opening remarks, thanking the audience "most ofall, for your vote of confidence during primaries." Recalling howshe stood in Peterborough's town hall in 2000 just before thepresidential primary, she said, "I felt I had come home."
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) indulged in his own reminiscencewhen he took the microphone, telling the group he was wearing "thelucky red sweater" he wore when he endorsed McCain for presidentback in December in New Hampshire. "I'm relying on this sweater andthe Republicans, and independents, and Democrats in New Hampshire,to take John with your four electoral votes to the White House onTuesday," he said.
And when McCain began his speech tonight, he not only thankedseveral state officials but made a point of saying he would do hisbest to ensure New Hampshire retained "its first in the nationstatus" in presidential primaries. "I love my home state ofArizona," he said. "But I really do mean [it when I say there's] aspecial feeling I have for this state and the wonderful people, whotake their responsibilities so seriously."
Returning to the three themes his campaign unveiled several monthsago, McCain asked the audience, "What is this election about? It'sabout reform, prosperity and peace. Reform, prosperity and peace."
None of the questions the GOP presidential nominee faced werehostile. In fact, one member of the audience prefaced his remarksby saying, "I may be jumping a little ahead, Mr. President, I havea question," which prompted a standing ovation. Another, a woman,thanked McCain for his service, saying, "Because of your service,we are a free country, and that's phenomenal." But some of thequestions were tougher than others, and they prompted McCain toreturn to many of the issues he has relegated to the back burnerduring the general election.
When a young man asked McCain whether he would oppose theconstruction of any coal plant that could not store the carbon itemits, McCain replied that he had to "tell the truth" becausethat's what he does during town halls: "You know, I'd love to tellyou that I would, but I can't, because we're going to have to buildnew power plants."
Another audience member inquired what McCain would do to promotegreen building practices, which prompted McCain to mention his planto revamp federal buildings so they're more energy efficient -- apolicy he unveiled more than four months ago, but which he rarelymentions on the campaign trail. "We need to provide you with thosesort of tax credits and incentives for green technologies," he toldher.
McCain even revisited the question that nearly torpedoed hisprimary bid: immigration. When one voter asked him what he would doto curb illegal immigration, he cautioned that there were not"twelve million handcuffs" to slap on everyone who's already herein violation of federal law. "I will make my highest prioritygetting immigration reform done, and that begins with securing ourborders," he said. "But I've also got to tell you, these are God'schildren."
Some of his other comments were more crowd pleasing, such as whenhe emphasized the need to cut government spending and keep taxeslow. When asked how the federal government would cope withdecreased revenues in light of the economic crunch, McCainresponded, "We're going to have to scrub every agency of governmentand we're going to have to do away with ones that aren't servingthe American people... It's going to require very tough decisions."
Reprising the line he's used so many times in the state, heinformed attendees that he was hoping a broad coalition would helphim serve his country in one last role. "I've come to the people ofNew Hampshire, Republicans, independents, Democrats, libertarians,vegetarians, to ask again, to let me go on one more mission," hetold them.
Posted at 8:10 PM ET on Nov 2, 2008 | Category: John McCain
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http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/11/02/mccain_warmly_welcomed_in_gran.html [2008-11-4]
Tag : GraniteJohn McCain McCain Warmly Welcomed at Granite State Town Hall
By Juliet Eilperin
PETERBOROUGH, N.H. -- As his campaign nears its end, John McCainconvened a town hall meeting tonight in New Hampshire, the statethat has sustained his presidential aspirations during the darkesttimes.
McCain's first-place finish in New Hampshire in 2000 made him aserious contender against George W. Bush, though it failed to carryhim through the rest of the primaries. Nearly eleven months ago,winning here put him on the path to securing his party'snomination. While only a couple of dozen people showed up eightyears ago when he held one of his first town halls here, tonight acrowd of more than 2,000 supporters stood out in the cold to greethim, while another 400 waited inside to see him speak.
Cindy McCain alluded to her husband's winning record in NewHampshire in her opening remarks, thanking the audience "most ofall, for your vote of confidence during primaries." Recalling howshe stood in Peterborough's town hall in 2000 just before thepresidential primary, she said, "I felt I had come home."
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) indulged in his own reminiscencewhen he took the microphone, telling the group he was wearing "thelucky red sweater" he wore when he endorsed McCain for presidentback in December in New Hampshire. "I'm relying on this sweater andthe Republicans, and independents, and Democrats in New Hampshire,to take John with your four electoral votes to the White House onTuesday," he said.
And when McCain began his speech tonight, he not only thankedseveral state officials but made a point of saying he would do hisbest to ensure New Hampshire retained "its first in the nationstatus" in presidential primaries. "I love my home state ofArizona," he said. "But I really do mean [it when I say there's] aspecial feeling I have for this state and the wonderful people, whotake their responsibilities so seriously."
Returning to the three themes his campaign unveiled several monthsago, McCain asked the audience, "What is this election about? It'sabout reform, prosperity and peace. Reform, prosperity and peace."
None of the questions the GOP presidential nominee faced werehostile. In fact, one member of the audience prefaced his remarksby saying, "I may be jumping a little ahead, Mr. President, I havea question," which prompted a standing ovation. Another, a woman,thanked McCain for his service, saying, "Because of your service,we are a free country, and that's phenomenal." But some of thequestions were tougher than others, and they prompted McCain toreturn to many of the issues he has relegated to the back burnerduring the general election.
When a young man asked McCain whether he would oppose theconstruction of any coal plant that could not store the carbon itemits, McCain replied that he had to "tell the truth" becausethat's what he does during town halls: "You know, I'd love to tellyou that I would, but I can't, because we're going to have to buildnew power plants."
Another audience member inquired what McCain would do to promotegreen building practices, which prompted McCain to mention his planto revamp federal buildings so they're more energy efficient -- apolicy he unveiled more than four months ago, but which he rarelymentions on the campaign trail. "We need to provide you with thosesort of tax credits and incentives for green technologies," he toldher.
McCain even revisited the question that nearly torpedoed hisprimary bid: immigration. When one voter asked him what he would doto curb illegal immigration, he cautioned that there were not"twelve million handcuffs" to slap on everyone who's already herein violation of federal law. "I will make my highest prioritygetting immigration reform done, and that begins with securing ourborders," he said. "But I've also got to tell you, these are God'schildren."
Some of his other comments were more crowd pleasing, such as whenhe emphasized the need to cut government spending and keep taxeslow. When asked how the federal government would cope withdecreased revenues in light of the economic crunch, McCainresponded, "We're going to have to scrub every agency of governmentand we're going to have to do away with ones that aren't servingthe American people... It's going to require very tough decisions."
Reprising the line he's used so many times in the state, heinformed attendees that he was hoping a broad coalition would helphim serve his country in one last role. "I've come to the people ofNew Hampshire, Republicans, independents, Democrats, libertarians,vegetarians, to ask again, to let me go on one more mission," hetold them.
Posted at 8:10 PM ET on Nov 2, 2008 | Category: John McCain
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Previous: In Fla., Biden Bridles at Being Prompted | Next: What Next for Obama's Text-Messaging Database?
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