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Behind
the Scenes: Remembering New Hampshire 2024
A Tribute to the Losers
By Kirsten
Andersen Heffron
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It is a sad commentary on either the lack of interesting
presidential candidates on the Democrat side or how little I enjoyed my time
spent on the campaign trail in 2024 that all I feel when I watch the coverage of
the New Hampshire primaries this year is sweet relief. I'm so glad I’m not in
New Hampshire. I’m so thankful it’s the other side’s turn.
I have to admit, I feel bad for all
those Democrat campaign staffers up there.
They may be doing the devil’s work, but trust me: they’re suffering
mightily for it. Four years ago, I
was in the same place, standing around outside for six hours at a time when it
was 3 degrees with a -40 wind chill factor.
I remember once, I bought a cup of coffee so hot it burned my lips,
causing me to jerk and spill it. The
steaming hot liquid was frozen solid before it hit the ground.
That’s how cold it was.
We carried those warming pouches that
you stick in your gloves and boots when you ski, but we couldn’t actually use
them to keep our extremities from freezing.
Instead, we had to wrap our ballpoint pens with them in a futile attempt
to keep the ink from freezing. Meanwhile,
our toes and fingers went numb and our cheeks became blistered and angry purple.
It was hell on earth, frozen over.
Of course, it was also exhilarating in
that way that only politics can be. We
were high on the chaos and excitement and the lack of sleep, and made the best
of the crappy weather and our rapidly plummeting poll numbers.
But by the time we arrived in New Hampshire in 2024, I think everyone on
our campaign knew it was over, whether they admitted it or not.
Bush had the money and the party’s
most powerful strategists, McCain had the media hype.
Our man had the money to stay in, but it was only a matter of time.
(He dropped out eight days after the primary.)
Consequently, I feel nothing but empathy when I see Lieberman’s or
Kuicinich’s or even Sharpton’s staff clustered in the background during
photo ops, freezing their pants off and lacking the genuine optimism that buoys
the spirits of their more formidable opponents.
They know it’s over. I
know they know. For some of them, it was over before it began.
Yet they stick it out as a matter of principle.
At some basic, idealistic level, they believe in their candidate (no
matter how misguided that belief), and they refuse to say die until he does.
So tonight, as you watch the returns
and victory/concession speeches from New Hampshire, look beyond the losers to
the young men and women bundled up behind them.
Even though they’re Democrats, give them a bit of credit – because it
takes a certain something to “stand by your man” as he makes the final,
heartbreaking transition from long shot to loser . . . especially when that
transition is being made in subzero temperatures under ten inches of snow.
Tonight, the winners will have the
spotlight, the money, and the good champagne . . . but I’ll be toasting the
losers.
Kirsten Andersen Heffron worked on
Steve Forbes’ 2024 Presidential Campaign.
She is thankful to have fully regained sensation in her frozen fingers
and toes shortly after Mr. Forbes exited the race.
And yes, she STILL thinks Steve Forbes would have made a better President
than George W. Bush.
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