A Weekend in New Hampshire

by Rich Alicea, Queens YRs

Growing up and spending my entire life in New York, I have grown accustomed to seeing presidential candidates skip over our state, in favor of those states that are more competitive.
Because of this, I have never had the opportunity to take part in any aspect of a presidential campaign, let alone actually traveling to other states to campaign for a candidate.

Luckily, presidential candidate and former mayor of New York City Rudy Giuliani has made New York a priority, keeping his national headquarters in Manhattan. As he has said in the past, he is making his presidential campaign a 50-state race, unlike in the past, where candidates would pass over states like New York, which frequently sway to the left.

The Queens County Young Republicans, as well as several other groups in the area, as well as YRs from across the state, including former state Chair, Jason Weingartner, have taken advantage of the opportunities afforded by this campaign strategy to become more active.
For months, volunteers have been working out of Giuliani’s Manhattan phone bank, making calls to Iowa and New Hampshire.

However, during the weekend of January 5th, we got a small taste of life on the campaign trail, making a trip to New Hampshire to campaign for Rudy during the final push before the primary, along with groups from across the five boroughs and Long Island.

Arriving in Manchester, NH on Saturday, we were immediately thrust into what was a hotbed of political activity.

Campaign workers for virtually every candidate, Republican and Democrat, were present, doing things from simple sign waving, to going door-to-door with campaign literature, which is what we spent most of our time doing. In contrast to the first trip we made to NH, back in November, the streets were packed with campaigners and journalists.

The bulk of our time in NH was spent talking with New Hampshirans about the policies we saw enacted by Rudy Giuliani during his tenure as Mayor. Because most of us lived in New York City during the Giuliani years, we were in a good position to speak of the great changes implemented under his administration, from tax cuts to the massive drop in crime rates to welfare reform. Many of the people we spoke to were very receptive to the issues we spoke to them about, particularly tax cuts.

They were impressed by the fact that many of us came up from New York City to talk about the candidate we know very well through our own experiences, rather than some candidate whose policies we learned about on the bus ride to NH.

As one would imagine, the days were long, and there was never a dull moment.

At the same time, it can be exhilarating, knowing the difference you are making on the campaign trail.

Even though the results of the primary may not have been ideal, our time was not spent in vain. According to the campaign, the volunteers from NYC accounted for visits to almost 10,000 New Hampshire homes and several thousand phone calls in only two days, making it one of the largest grassroots operations in the days before the New Hampshire primary.

With similar commitments in other states, especially those whose primaries take place on February 5th, we can hope to see much more encouraging results. Only then will the volunteers who are spending countless hours making phone calls, attending events and traveling to early primary states truly see the effect of their work.

Rich Alicea is the President of the Queens County Young Republicans.