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SALEM, N.H. and NASHUA, N.H. -- If the battle for conservatives in this state is between Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, then they’re doing it in very different ways -- both in style and setting.
“When people say, the GOP is for big business, I double over and laugh,” Santorum said before a couple hundred people at the Derry-Salem Elks Lodge. “We’re the party of the little guy.”
Contrast that with Gingrich’s event at the Nashua Country Club speaking before a more tony, blazer-and-tie crowd.
He touted his hand in developing “supply-side economic” theory before members of the Rotary Club of Nashua while facing windows that overlooked a golf course.
Santorum, donning his signature sweater vest and stonewashed jean, used no podium and spoke at length before taking questions. He answered just six in an hour-and-a-half because of his lengthy answers, which often meandered far from the central points of the questions.
Gingrich, wearing a dark suit and red tie -- accompanied by wife Callista in a formal suit -- spoke from a podium, but only for about five minutes. He then moved quickly from question to question in an event that lasted about half an hour.
Santorum struck populist chords with talk of manufacturing and textile mills. "We’re going to give small-town America the chance to come back," he said before deriding migration to big cities: “Our basic values will look more like Barack Obama" if it continues.
Gingrich stuck to generic talking points about “Saul Alinsky” radicalism and went deep into policy weeds during questions, rattling off one proposal after another.
Lots of undecided voters
At the Santorum event, voters were mostly split between Santorum and Gingrich. At Gingrich’s event, the vast majority of the half a dozen or so interviewed by First Read were actually for front-runner Mitt Romney. Romney often attracts a more buttoned-up, country club crowd.
Just one person at Gingrich's event said they were considering voting for Gingrich.
Shelly Sousa of Salem said she saw Gingrich Friday night, described him as “intelligent,” has “thought-out policies,” and understands “history.” But she likes Santorum’s “devotion to family.” She’s torn.
“I’m going to pray on it,” she said.
Kim Litman from Derry said she, too, was trying to decide between Gingrich and Santorum. “I was impressed,” she said of Santorum after his event. But “I’m concerned; does he have enough knowledge as Gingrich?”
Earl and Marsha Dunbar from Loudon said they, too, were trying to decide between Gingrich and Santorum, though Earl also said he was considering Jon Huntsman.
“He was so boring in the debates,” he said. “I want to see him in person.”
Earl said he saw a measure of hypocrisy in how Gingrich has complained about Super PACs.
“He says he’s not part of the PACs and then turns around and does it himself,” Earl said. “I see it as being two-faced and plastic.”
Now, he’s leaning toward Santorum.
In Nashua, Mark Nash from Hudson said he’s voting for Gingrich.
“Newt’s a very aggressive guy,” he said. Of front-runner Mitt Romney, he echoed a point of New Hampshire pride.
“It bothered me that people in Massachusetts liked him,” Nash said with a wry smile. “He was a Massachusetts-type person. We don’t like people from Massachusetts. We try to make it a little more conservative here.”
But that wasn’t the prevailing opinion with the Rotary Club members.
Betty Hall, who’s lived and voted in New Hampshire since 1953, said she is voting for Romney and made that decision “a long time ago.” She cited that he’s a “business man,” he’s a “good manager,” and “hasn’t been in Washington” like other candidates.
Gloria Fields of Hudson echoed that.
“I made up my mind when he first announced he was running for president,” she said with a smile. “He’s a business man."
Robert Boisvert of Manchester said he's "50-50" between Romney and Gingrich. It's between who would be the "better candidate against Obama" and who is "closest to conservative values," he said.
He said he'll dive into notes and research tonight that he has been keeping.
"What I want," Boisvert said, "is for there to no longer be a Barack Obama."
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Game On!
It's the Beverly Hillbillies vs. Tiffany's...
*popcorn* anyone?
Perhaps the brilliant Mr. Santorum would like to tell us in what way destroying the social safety net and massive giveaways for the rich while invading the bedrooms of ordinary Americans is consistent with being the party of "the little guy."
Meanwhile Gingrich brags about his role in developing the very failed economic principles that are destroying the American dream.
Nice going, guys.
I like mine with extra butter my friend!!! It's going to be really tough politics when they get to the south.
Me too! ;o)
You sure got that right!
when he states that there are no social classes then how can he go blue collar..
the same way Obama rails against Wall Street and takes 3/4 of all their donations at $35,000 per plate fundraisers !
Yep, Obama takes from the enemy. Does the GOP still accept donations from those making under $20,000 a year? The political machine runs on money.
That was BEFORE he signed the legislation which produced the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau...the first thing government has done in 3 decades not aimed specifically at allowing the wealthy elites to loot from the rest of us.
Msnbc's Domenico: "He touted his hand in developing "supply-side economic" theory before members of the Rotary Club of Nashua while facing windows that overlooked a golf course."
DOMENICO,
I REALLY HAVE TO HAND YOU THE "HYPOCRITE journalist AWARD"........Nice try but it won't work because "we the people" DIDN'T forget a tiny fact which compares with the country club comment you made here...............OBAMA SPENT $4 MILLION ON HIS MOST RECENT VACATION.
Where are the articles demeaning Obama's lavish spending on the tax payers dime while the country is suffering?????
Eat your applesauce Leona - the medication will kick in shortly! ;o)
Who's ass does these numbers come from? I love you right wing nut cases...you can just pull numbers, facts, and stories from thin air. Try Snopes someday...it might change your life.
My guess is those numbers include some imaginary figure for teleprompter transportation, storage, and set up as well.
Right!!! Don't they just step in it and say oops all the time ClaytonR!!!
Leona: You just read the article and commented about them calling President the food stamp President and ending that program??!!! They report on what they get and you decide to comment on it just like we all do!!!
And that's why so many of them are millionaires -
They're the party of the little guy as long as the little guy is a corporate big shot and/or a millionaire.
What he meant is, they aren't JUST the party of billionaires, but millionaires as well. Everyone else is just a worthless leech.
Am too. Are not. Am too. Are not. Like a bunch of kids on the school yard. Who is more Reaganesque or more conservative than the other. Why not work WITH eveyone and do what is good for the people whether a conservative or liberal idea? This kind of stuff has to stop.
What concerns me more is why insurance companies are allowed to decide who lives or die in this country. Why are they allowed to ruin peoples lives?
"Santarium Santorum" is no Blue Collar Politician. He is a Koch Brothers Poster Boy, and he also took the "Goofy Grover" Tax Pledge. "Sanitorium Santarum" is not an economic friend of the Middle Class, the Working Poor, the elderly, and disabled. He will pass the "Richie Rich Ryan" Economic Plan, and the Bush Tax Cuts will be extended. "Sanitarium Santorum" talks about his Grandfather, and that is fine to do. Under a "Santorum Economy" his Grandfather would not be allowed to organize for a better wage. His Grandfather would work for very low wages, no benefits, and no chance to advance. His taxes would be increased however, his rich boss wouldd get a huge tax break. Again!! When Santorum's Grandfather is set to retire? He would have NO Social Security, NO Medicare, NO Medicaid, and No Pension. "Santarium Santorum" would make it clear to his Grandfather. Save all your money, spend it carefully, and do not ever get sick. All economic safety nets are Socialism/Marxism, and no tax breaks for Blue Collor Workers. That is fact!
The GOP has not begun to make the case that Obama must be defeated:
Obama kept on Secretary of Defense Gates. Obama enacted the most-conservative universal health care plan. (See Romney's recent defense of HIS Massachusetts plan, as being the most conservative way to do this.)
Obama led the fight to keep the US auto industry alive. His stimulus kept us out of a 2d great Depression, by showing that there was a bottom to the economy's 2008-2009 freefall.
The unpaid-for War and the unfunded Medicare Drug Benefit, had made this Country poorer than it was in 2001. Unfortunately, after the financial meltdown, we needed more deficit spending, to get us back to work, so we can pay for these things.
Obama's election and offer to talk, weakened the nutty regime in Iran and inspired its opponents--after the previous Administration gave Iran the first place in the Middle East and Iraq's nuclear scientists. (He got that bin Laden guy too, but it seems this is no longer important to Fox.)
Last summer, Obama offered the GOP in the House a historic compromise, to raise some taxes, but cut back on entitlements and healthcare spending. The GOP House rejected this compromise.
The Tea Party prefers a white President to a solvent America. The rest of us see that Obama is doing the best that anyone could do, in the real world.
Hey Dominico, I guess you havent been paying attention to the history of the last 30 years. The GOP has not been conservative since BEFORE Reagan! Name any true conservative who would have signed TWENTY deficit riddled budgets that added over $11T to the national debt!!! You CANT?? Neither can I. Have some popcorn--it will help you think! Feisty has loads of it! But NO BUTTER because it will clog your brain blood vessels---unless you've already been eating lotsa buttered popcorn. Then, there's no hope.
PS You DO know that overall, the GOP's constituency is primarily the corporate and moneyed elite plus a few other who've ALSO been gorging on buttered popcorn right? This is the same group that plotted to overthrown FDR in 1933's Business Plot! I wonder if..... nahhhhhhhhhh.......... well maybe.........
It seems to me that the GOP candidates this time are either crazy, dishonest or stupid. There has been no serious discussions about what to do about the countries problems. Santorum would do everyone a favor if he just became a priest, Perry is dumber than a post, Ron Paul is a nut and Newt Gingrinch must have found something in the White House to steal. Romney is a guy that even his own people don't like. I would vote and work for Huntsman but he will never get the nomination because he doesn't have the qualities listed above. I didn't vote for Obama in the last election and you can argue that he hasn't done enough to fix the problems. That doesn't change the fact that our problems were caused by G. W. Bush and conservatives who believe there should be no financial regulations and we shouldn't raise taxes to payf or wars. If any of the above receive the nomination I will vote for Obama this time.
With all due respect, you and others are still blaming Bush. Obama himself said if he didn't fix things, he'd be a ONE termer. Why not take Obama's advice and elect someone new?
OH WAIT........you must think 2 terms for Obama with more " stimulus", more "green" money pits, another s&p downgrade, Higher national debt, taking more states to court for trying to protect themselves, and more job killing policies are the way to go!
Last night I witnessed the BSC game where Jefferson the LSU quarterback reminded me of two other people. He was confused and befuddled by what the LSU defense was doing. The look on his face reminded me of Vince Young former Titan quarterback and barrack Obama. Neither of these two understood what they were seeing or what to do about it either. Looking good or being blessed athletically does not allow you to lead your team/country to victory when the going gets tough. Brains and experience are what are needed in football or the Presidency. Jefferson did not understand the Alabama defense last night. Obama has not understand capitalism since he was elected to office. The Coach-us needs to bench him before we lose the Big Game. Vote to Bench Obama in November for the sake of our Country!
Can anyone ever be truly ready to fulfill the role of leader of one of the most powerful nations on earth? It isn't like there is a specific course of study that you take and pass a series of tests. Throughout history, our Presidents have run the gamut from political and social philosphers, to military men, to lawyers, and each category speaks to a specific strength.....Right now we need to get our economy back on track, put people back to work, and those are probably the most important and immediate issues, and ones that probably should be consuming the majority of attention. We should also be looking for candidates with specific expertise, knowlege and skills in those areas.