Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will visit Hanover this afternoon at 12:30 p.m. and speak at a “grassroots organization event,” according to Clinton’s campaign website.
The public event was originally planned at a private home on Rope Ferry Road at 1:30 p.m. Clinton campaign aide Julie McClain said, however, that the event will now be held at the BEMA due to a large amount of local interest.
McClain said attendees at the event will have an opportunity to sign up as volunteers, hear Clinton speak about her campaign ideas and fill out commit to vote cards, which indicate an individual’s promise to vote for Clinton in the New Hampshire presidential primary election on Feb. 9, 2016. New Hampshire law states that its primary will be the first in the nation.
Government professor Joseph Bafumi said that this organizing event might function more as an effort to rally volunteers than as a way to attract votes.
“It’s a smaller, intimate setting,” he said. “Rather than targeting just voters, she’s speaking to people who are knocking on doors. It will organize the volunteer base rather than direct votes, and it’s in a more controlled setting, connecting staffers with potential volunteers, especially here at Dartmouth with people and students who could potentially contribute significantly to the campaign.”
As of press time, former senator and former Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee (D-R.I.), former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley (D-Md.), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former senator Jim Webb (D-Va.) have all announced official Democratic presidential bids. O’Malley visited the College at the end of May, speaking with students and community members in Carson Hall just one day after launching his presidential campaign. Sanders visited the College last October, speaking at a rally that focused on November’s primary race between Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) and former Republican Massachusetts senator Scott Brown.
Although Clinton is currently ahead of other Democratic candidates in many polls, Sanders is gaining support, particularly in New Hampshire. According to recent polls conducted by Morning Consult, a digital politics and policy outlet, 44 percent of Democratic voters who say they will participate in next year’s New Hampshire primary back Clinton. Meanwhile, 32 percent indicated support for Sanders.
Bafumi said that he thinks Clinton is taking that challenge seriously, adding that more candidates might join the presidential race if Clinton is not a clear leader.
Hannah Solomon ’17, who plans to attend the event, said she hopes to learn more about Clinton’s policy ideas and positions, as she wants to familiarize herself with the details of Clinton’s campaign before voting.
“As a woman and a feminist, I like to see strong women in positions of power,” she said, while noting that she plans to support a presidential candidate because of his or her political positions, and not solely on the basis of gender.
Similarly, Patricia Bai ’17 said she plans on going to the event to learn more about Clinton than simply what she has heard from other people or read in the news.
“Because I’m of voting age, I should probably learn a little more about the candidates,” Bai said. “I feel like meeting [Clinton] firsthand and hearing what she has to say would probably be the best way to see why she’s running the campaign.”
Clinton’s Hanover event is part of her campaign’s attempt to gain supporters across the state of New Hampshire, even in smaller towns, including Pittsburg and Hollis, New Hampshire McClain wrote in an email. Clinton, who will also visit Glen, New Hampshire, over the weekend, has outlined four main tenets of her campaign, which she calls “The Four Fights” — building the economy, strengthening families, revitalizing America’s political system and keeping the nation secure.
In 2008, Clinton beat President Barack Obama in the New Hampshire presidential primary election by 2.6 percent.
According to the Hillary for America campaign invitation, Clinton’s event will have airport-style security screening. Small personal cameras and cell phones, however, will be permitted.
Annie Ma and Michael Qian contributed reporting.
