ENFIELD — As Democratic presidential candidates ramp up their appearances in New Hampshire ahead of the February primary, they’ve been met with crowds of interested voters. But, despite the turnout for candidates’ town halls, house parties and rallies, many Upper Valley residents say they’re still on the fence about who will get their vote.
“I’m going back and forth,” Anne Cooper said during an interview after a house party Saturday for presidential candidate Michael Bennet.
The U.S. Senator from Colorado addressed a crowd of around 25 people at the Enfield home of Upper Valley Democrats of New Hampshire co-chair Barbara Jones, discussing everything from the opioid crisis to how to beat Trump in the general election.
Cooper, who lives in Enfield with her husband and two children, said she’s interested in Bennet and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, adding that she appreciates the focus Bennet — a former Denver Public Schools Superintendent — has on public school education.
But she’s not sold yet. For Cooper, a key to picking the right presidential candidate will be finding someone who can bridge the country’s political divide.
“Part of the reason we have these policies right now is because of our hatred of our fellow countrymen,” Cooper said, adding that Bennet is on the right track. “He felt like a vehicle for building bridges and the vehicle for cohesion.”
Sue Kaplan, of Lebanon, also said she was undecided after attending the event Saturday. Kaplan worked as a press secretary for then-Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis in the 1980s, said she’s making sure to attend plenty of Democratic candidates’ events before she makes up her mind. So far, she’s seen about two-thirds of the saturated candidate pool.
Kaplan is looking for someone who will make sure to speak to voters in rural areas as well as “purple and red states” and someone who’s aware of the weight and importance of this election.
“Those that grab me are the ones who understand that we’re in a crisis,” she said.
But for Jones, who hosted the event Saturday, other factors like age, play into the equation.
“I really believe a young, moderate Democrat, (should win),” Jones said Saturday, adding that she’s interested in several candidates including Bennet and Buttigieg. “If it were up to me, I don’t think anyone in their 70s should be president.”
Other Upper Valley residents, who didn’t attend the event Saturday had similar feelings of indecision. Enfield resident Sheri Ogelsby said California billionaire Tom Steyer is becoming a front-runner for her, partly due to his plan for 12-year term limits on members of Congress. But entrepreneur Andrew Yang is quickly grabbing her attention because his platform is different from many other Democratic candidates’, she said.
Anne Johnson, another Enfield resident said her two big issues are the environment and health care, and she’d like a candidate who supports single-payer or a path to single-payer health care.
Only a few people who spoke in an interview Saturday are leaning toward one candidate in particular, including Jean Brown, a Hanover resident who attended the Bennet house party Saturday. She said Amy Klobuchar is exciting her the most right now, calling the U.S. Senator from Minnesota “smart and able” and adding that she “doesn’t take any guff.”
When it comes to some of the other democratic candidates, Brown said she’s concerned about issues of practicality, saying some candidates are proposing “utopian” ideas that wouldn’t actually come to fruition.
“A big dream is fine but not if it can’t happen,” she said.
The knowledge that many voters are still on the fence is not lost on Bennet.
Wearing a Patagonia fleece and standing in the middle of the Jones’ living room Saturday, Bennet addressed the group of Upper Valley residents — many of them over the age of 35 — and discussed, among other things, his chances of winning. He reminded the crowd that John Kerry was polling at 3% or 4% support in the months before he became the Democratic nominee for president in 2004, and that he is hopeful about his path forward. Bennet has hovered at 1% or less in most polls since the start of his campaign.
“I’m not a celebrity candidate, that’s my biggest issue,” he said.
Bennet, who missed the cutoff for the most recent Dec. 12 presidential debate, is making some headway financially. Bennet’s team announced Saturday that he has raised the first $100,000 toward his $700,000 fundraising goal for an all-out push in New Hampshire.
On Saturday he called himself one of the most progressive candidates in the running, noting his plans to increase the minimum wage and a bill he wrote that would ban former House and Senate members from becoming lobbyists once they leave public office. During his talk, Bennet outlined some plans for his first days in office if he were to win the presidency, including rejoining the Paris climate accord, after President Donald Trump announced his decision to leave the agreement in 2017.
He also criticized Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, calling their platforms, which include ambitious proposals featuring “Medicare for All” and free college tuition, “ideological.”
“I believe that children in my old school district are completely invisible to Bernie Sanders. I don’t know why, but I believe it,” he added.
In his final thoughts, Bennet discussed the weeks leading up to the primary in February, telling the group that he believes most of them will choose a candidate based on who could beat Trump in the general election.
“I’m going to be in this thing until you guys make up your minds,” he said.
Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.