Luke Skywalker
Super Moderator
{vb:raw ozzmodz_postquote}:
Donald Trump speaks at the No Labels convention Oct. 12, 2015, in Manchester, N.H.(Photo: Darren McCollester, Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, N.H. — Amid an increasingly combative 2016 campaign,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Republican and Democratic presidential candidates preached bipartisanship Monday in the nation's first primary state. The goal: Woo the largely undeclared voters at the No Labels convention,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a group that emphasizes cooperation and pragmatism in government.
Even GOP front-runner Donald Trump, whose candidacy hasn't exactly been defined by its conciliatory approach to rivals, tried to highlight his willingness to cooperate.
“When I was a businessman, I got along with everybody,” Trump said before the event. Then, he<span style="color: Red;">*</span>told voters,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“I like the word ‘compromise.’ We need compromise. … But it’s always good to compromise and win.”
Trump received a tough reception from<span style="color: Red;">*</span>more than a thousand undecided New Hampshire voters, perhaps best illustrated an hour after his appearance. One woman's plea to reporters<span style="color: Red;">*</span>—<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“Please don’t make today about Donald Trump"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— received one of the biggest ovations of the day.
Trump had his share of rocky moments, such as when he interrupted an Asian man who was asking about South Korea’s defense alliance with the United<span style="color: Red;">*</span>States. “Are you from South Korea?” Trump asked. No, the young man said, responding that he was from Texas. Many in the crowd hollered at Trump’s assumption.
Trump still tops polls here, although his lead has slipped.
Roberta Paine of Keene, N.H., said she’s looking for candidates who are honest, straight-talking, civil and reasonable.
“The idea that people can’t work together is absurd,” Paine said. She’s long been registered as an undeclared voter<span style="color: Red;">*</span>but usually votes in the GOP primary.
That’s the norm in New Hampshire. Close to half<span style="color: Red;">*</span>of the state’s 874,000 voters are registered as “undeclared,” which allows them to vote in either party's primary. Nearly all of them vote in the same party’s primary year after year, said University of New Hampshire pollster Andrew Smith.
Nevertheless, New Hampshire’s voters are famously undecided until the final days before the election.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Half of all voters in the past two elections hadn’t made up their minds by the Sunday before the primary, according to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Smith.
“Sometimes I decide when I’m casting the vote,” said Lisa Alexander<span style="color: Red;">*</span>of Pelham, N.H., who brought her teenage daughter to the forum.
Candidates hyped their bipartisan credentials, hoping to win a spot on voters’ lists of favorites.
Former New York governor<span style="color: Red;">*</span>George Pataki, a long-shot GOP candidate, asked former senator<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Evan Bayh, an Indiana Democrat, to join him on stage for a question-and-answer session about climate change.
Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who<span style="color: Red;">*</span>seeks<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the Democratic nomination, exhorted the crowd via a video feed: “Let’s treat each other respectfully, and let’s not try to demonize people who disagree with us.” Then, he launched into details about changing Social Security<span style="color: Red;">*</span>and bridging income gaps.
Policy details seemed to be much of what the undecided group of voters<span style="color: Red;">*</span>wanted. When Trump started talking about lowering the federal debt and trimming deficits, a chorus of audience members shouted,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“But how?”
“We have tremendous cutting to do,” Trump said. Then, to applause: “You have a Department of Education that is totally out of control. … We’re going to save on the department of environmental protection, because they’re not doing it.
“And many, many other things. Hundreds of billions of dollars is going to be saved, just in terms of running government.”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who helped balance the federal budget when he was in Congress in the 1990s, cautioned against that sort of approach.
“Everything doesn’t have to be slash and burn,”<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said Kasich, who plans to outline a balanced<span style="color: Red;">*</span>budget proposal Thursday. “You’re not in this business to win a popularity contest. You’re in this business to be an adult,” he said to applause.
Follow<span style="color: Red;">*</span>@CThompsonENQ<span style="color: Red;">*</span>on Twitter
<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
Powered By WizardRSS.com | Full Text RSS Feed