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The VICE Guide to the 2016 Election

New Hampshire Democrats Are Not Happy with Hillary Clinton

Progressive activists in the first-in-nation primary state are eagerly embracing Democratic candidates looking to challenge the party's heir apparent.
John Raby, a volunteer with American Friends Service Committee, raises his hand to "bird dog" likely Republican presidential candidate Lindsey Graham. Photo by Arnie Alpert

If you're a Republican activist in New Hampshire, you might feel like you've entered a year-long carnival season. A stream of presidential candidates has been ringing your phone and showing up at your conferences for months. And, with no sign that a clear frontrunner will emerge any time soon, the crowded field of candidates seems likely to keep up the courting for the foreseeable future.

For Democrats, though, the lead-up to 2016 has been more subdued. Hillary Clinton has a huge lead in the polls and a massive fundraising advantage over any other potential candidate on the left. In New Hampshire, she has 19 staffers on the ground, while the other candidates—or likely candidates—have virtually no presence. It's enough to make any activists hoping for an alternative to Clinton take their clipboards and go home.

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But don't tell that to Elizabeth Ropp, an acupuncturist from Manchester who was an activist with Occupy New Hampshire and got involved in the state's electoral politics just before the 2012 primary. Occupy the Primary brought the movement's populist message outside GOP debates and appearances in the state that year, but Ropp said the effort didn't really get started until close to the end of the primary season.

This year, Ropp has already popped up at candidate appearances to ask questions about their military and prison policies, and about their stance on money in politics—a practice known as "bird-dogging." In the absence of a crowded Democratic field, Earlier this month she hosted a house party for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a self-described Democratic socialist who is challenging Clinton inthe Democratic primary.

"He's getting big receptions wherever he goes," Ropp told me. She added that Occupy veterans have joined up with old-school New Hampshire lefties, generating a surge enthusiasm for candidates who aren't named Clinton.

For progressives, one bright side of Clinton's dominance so far is that it appears to have scared other potential middle-of-the-road candidates out of the race, creating a space where a committed liberal like Sanders can run as the alternative candidate.

Don Trementozzi, president of a Communications Workers of America Local 1400 in New Hampshire, said most national unions and the AFL-CIO are holding off on endorsing a candidate, but Sanders has a clear appeal to rank-and-file union members. The Vermont Senator isn't just a veteran advocate for economic equality; he's also been a key labor ally in fights like a recent four-month strike against New Englandtelecom FairPoint by CWA 1400 and other unions.

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"Our local's a big fan, our members are big fans, of Bernie Sanders," Trementozzi told me. "If I had my personal choice, it's Bernie all day long. It's not even close."

Burt Cohen, a former majority leader in the New Hampshire state Senate and a local radio host, is another early Sanders supporter. "He's exciting a lot of people," Cohen said. "I think a lot of people are tired, frankly, of having to choose the lesser of two evils. Not just progressives, but people across the board, are hungry for somebody that tells it like it is."

Of course, the chances of Sanders beating Clinton in New Hampshire—or anywhere else for that matter—are slim. But Cohen noted that at the very least, having a progressive in the race could push the frontrunner left. "Politics is theater," he said. "We've seen the media look for insurgencies. Here's a perfect opportunity."


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Further complicating Clinton's New Hampshire prospects is the ongoing effort to draft Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren into the 2016 race , a movement that's looking less and less likely to achieve its stated objective. Kurt Ehrenberg, New Hampshire director for Run Warren Run, said the group is continuing to sign up supporters and holds out hope that Warren will change her mind and decide to run after all. If she doesn't do that—which seems likely— the Draft Warren network will eventually have to decide whether to lend its support to another campaign—a decision that Ehrenberg says Warren herself may help determine.

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"We listen to her very carefully," he told me. "We have a lot of respect for her opinions, and she could provide some guidance for us."

Regardless of which Democrats ultimately decide to challenge Clinton, New Hampshire voters are well known for their insistence that candidates take part in the state's retail politics, chatting one-on-one with voters and meeting with various minor local poobahs—something that Clinton has yet to do in the Granite State. As the Boston Globe reported Wednesday, Clinton's campaign has yet to hold a single New Hampshire event open to the general public. Democratic insiders told the newspaper that campaign aides have told them not to panic, that Clinton will eventually hold open forums in the state, but local activists are getting antsy.

"I have an encyclopedia of questions to ask Hillary Clinton," said Arnie Arnesen, another local radio host and former Democratic politician. She added that she believes Clinton needs to get out in front of issues that could hurt her on the left, and take questions about her hawkish foreign policy stance, as well as about the tough-on-crime legislation and financial deregulation measures championed by her husband two decades ago.

Clinton's lack of flesh-pressing could open up an opportunity for another Democrat to gain ground with voters starved for some candidate facetime. "We have a responsibility, I think, as the first in the nation [primary state] to give every candidate a look," said Jeff Woodburn, a Democratic state senator. He added that campaigning in the small state forces frontrunners to operate on a level playing field with other candidates.

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Jackie Cilley, a Democratic state representative and former gubernatorial candidate, said that despite her desire to see a woman elected president, she has been actively meeting with alternative candidates, and is in the process of sizing up Sanders and former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee, as well as former Virginia Governor Jim Webb and former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley. Cilley said she's taking a wait-and-see approach as she looks for a candidate to push for a progressive agenda, particularly a livable wage.

"I see that as so central to the issues that we're facing in this country," she said. "If we had a decent wage for our workers we could get rid of so many of the problems we have."

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The message from the Clinton camp, not surprisingly, is that there's no reason for progressives to look further than the frontrunner. Jim Demers, a political strategist who returned my call right before walking into a Clinton strategy meeting, insisted that Clinton will soon be getting out on the ground in New Hampshire and start doing the one-on-one media interviews she's mostly avoided so far.

"I think her chances of winning are extremely strong," Demers said, "but I also know that she and the campaign aren't going to take any vote for granted and they're going to work very hard."

Follow Livia Gershon on Twitter.