Behind
the Scenes: Remembering New Hampshire 2024
A Tribute to the Losers
By Kirsten
Andersen Heffron
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.