From NH to SC

This is simply an update to the project ongoing where I'm following the variety of volunteer organized events and such.  Last night I went to a Huckabee debate watching party.  Sounds fun, right?  Well, it actually was very interesting.  Not that I thought I'd encounter a bunch of Bible waving evangelicals, although I half-hoped I would, but I thought it might be evident, visually, somewhere.  But it wasn't.  Nope, not a crucifix necklace to be found.  Instead, what I found was a group of people (just as young and enthusiastic as any I found at a Ron Paul, or Barack Obama event) who were moved by his message of conservatism, and character.  I spoke with a couple people about why they supported Huckabee.  One woman (pictured) had supported Huckabee since 1993 when

he became Lt. Gov of Arkansas.  Now that's a long time of supporting an obscure politician, and she's not even from Arkansas.  She's from Manassas.  

Another man, about my age, simply felt Huckabee was the most honorable and fit person for the job.  His religion?  Sure it played a factor, but that wasn't why he supported Huckabee. Well, so much for the "praise Jesus" supporters I'd half-hoped I'd see at the debate watching party.  They all seemed so normal.  Isn't that a stupid thing to say?  But I guess there's nothing like actually going to see for yourself what people are like.  

It was also interesting to see everyone's willingness to clap and support comments made by many of the other candidates.  There didn't seem to be too much support of Romney or Paul, but McCain and Thompson elicited more than a few nods of approval, and even a small applause or two for McCain.

If there was a striking difference from this group when compared to the Paul and Obama events I've attended (I'm still having some bad luck getting the go-ahead to photograph any volunteer activities by Clinton supporters), it was the striking lack of diversity in attendance.

I took a seat at the bar to survey the scene and wait until the debate began, when I noticed, seated around the corner was a black man.  And I noticed simply because he was the only one in the room...sitting by no one, but myself.  As the debate went on, I became curious (mainly because of the demographic portrayal of the black population of our country as leaning mostly to the left). Soon after the debate finished, I intended to ask him why he supported Huckabee.  At that moment, a supporter came to the bar to ask that the volume be turned up again so that he could hear the post-debate analysis.  The bartender responded that he couldn't because the DJ would soon be playing music for the bar.  I look behind the DJ deck and there was the man I had seen at the bar. 

There was plenty of black support at both the phone banking and Iowa events I attended for Obama.  But I also found that the Ron Paul events had a diverse collection of supporters, as well.  Paul mentions on his site that he is, in fact, courting the black vote better than any other republican candidate, reiterating this point with Wolf Blitzer on CNN when responding to the allegations of racism following the unearthing of an apparently unauthorized newsletter that bore his name, 15 years ago.  One can only hope, regardless of whom you support, that those newsletters were published without his approval, or knowledge.  

So back to the debate.  I thought most of the candidates handled themselves as you'd expect. But, my favorite segment of the night came when Ron Paul was questioned about his electability...and asked in a rude manner, at that.  Interesting that Paul outpolled both Thompson, and Giuliani in Iowa and NH, and yet, he is asked if he is electable.  I think it's pretty clear that it's a 3 person race for the GOP nomination, and Paul isn't one of those three, but it seems that there is significant disdain towards him by many republican pundits and candidates, but I'm not sure why.  I can only imagine it's because he wants us to end the war in Iraq and the war on drugs, because all of his other points of view are pretty much strictly out of the traditional Republican mold.