[P]LYMOUTH, N.H. — It almost felt like July or August here on Saturday, with green grass, quacking ducks and warm temperatures greeting presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders for a daylong college tour. But while Sanders may be yearning for the sunny skies of summer — a season that saw his historic political rise — he also knows the cold days of winter are fast approaching.
And with winter comes slippery sidewalks, slick streets and presidential primaries.
With two months before the nation’s first Democratic primary battle here, Sanders is prioritizing New Hampshire as his best shot at a win – hoping a Granite State victory will vault him to the top in other early voting states.
“We all know how important New Hampshire is,” Sanders said Saturday, speaking to more than 1,000 people in a big gym at Plymouth State University. “We’ve got to do well and win in Iowa, we win here in New Hampshire, [and] we’ve got a path toward victory.”
A plethora of recent polls and surveys offer slightly different perspectives on the race in New Hampshire, with some projecting a narrow Sanders lead while others give Hillary Clinton the slight edge. A Public Policy Polling survey from Dec. 3 put Clinton at 44 percent and Sanders at 42 percent, within the margin of error.
While other recent polls offer a slightly different forecast than Public Policy, the message out of the Granite State polls is clear: it’s anybody’s to win.
The campaign is upping its game here, scheduling frequent Sanders appearances in hopes of pushing him back to the top of the polls (In September, he held a nine-point lead over Clinton).
As part of that strategy, Sanders will attend smaller gatherings in the state, as he did Saturday, modeling a red winter hat with antlers during the Plymouth Christmas tree lighting.
Sanders is also vocalizing his concerns on local political issues, like the opioid crisis and a controversial proposed natural gas pipeline. And the campaign is putting their best staffers and surrogates on the ground to help organize a non-stop, seven-days-a-week push until primary day on February 9.
Sanders’ evening Plymouth speech followed similar remarks made at Keene State College in the afternoon. Each event drew more than 1,000 people, with loud speakers placed outside the venues to relay Sanders’ remarks to overflow crowds.
The student body presidents of both schools introduced Sanders and Neil Young’s “Rockin’ In The Free World” played. One Sandman Fan here held up one of Vermont Teddy Bear Co.’s signature Bernie models as the Vermont senator walked onstage.
In both Keene and Plymouth, Sanders’ remarks included his usual economic justice pitch.
Sanders also talked about his plan to make public colleges free and vigorously defended Planned Parenthood, the two most applauded issues of the day from a congregation comprised mostly of college students.
But Sanders also addressed a number of topical issues, both national and local.
Sanders’ highlighted his opposition to the Northeast Energy Direct Pipeline, a controversial project by Kinder Morgan that would take natural gas from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts on a proposed pipeline that skirts Vermont and hugs the southern New Hampshire border.
Sanders was cheered loudly in Plymouth for calling the pipeline a “bad idea that should be opposed.” Echoing her early stance during the Keystone XL pipeline project, Clinton has not taken a position on the New Hampshire project. (She ultimately opposed Keystone, some say under pressure from Sanders.)
Sanders also approached gun control head-on, advocating for the expansion of background checks and a ban on assault weapons.
“In Vermont, in New Hampshire, all over this country we have a lot of people who hunt and I support people’s right to hunt. It’s part of our cultural heritage,” he said. “But people do not go hunting with assault weapons.”
Sanders also previewed his climate plan, which was unveiled Monday. The ambitious approach would cut U.S. carbon pollution 40 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050. The plan calls for an entirely clean energy system in America, as well as a workforce program that would create 10 million green jobs.
https://berniesanders.com/press-release/sanders-releases-people-before-polluters-climate-plan/
“Even more important than the plan is the credibility of the planner,” environmentalist Bill McKibben said Monday while attending the Paris climate. “Bernie has shown with years of committed action that he will not just talk about this stuff on the campaign trail, he will do it in the Oval Office.”
In an email, McKibben said Sanders asked him to stump in New Hampshire, and that he will likely hit the trail the week before the Granite State primary.
Besides McKibben, Team Sanders said they will likely ramp up other surrogate appearances, from supporters like Ben & Jerry. Sanders’ son Levi, who lives in Claremont, spoke here Saturday and will continue to appear alongside his dad.
Ben & Jerry: Sanders’ sweet surrogates
Sanders’ wife, Jane, will also continue to be on the trail.
Campaign spokesman Michael Briggs said he has been pushing her to hit the trail alone on behalf of her husband, but said he was unsure if she would agree to it.
“She could make front page news in some small rural towns,” Briggs said.
Julia Barnes, Sanders’ New Hampshire field director, said the state team is ratcheting up their organization as the primary approaches. Team Sanders now has 15 field offices and 70 paid staffers in the state; in September they had 8 offices and 30 staffers.
“We are still bringing folks on,” Barnes said.
More than 5,600 active volunteers have come onboard since the start of the campaign, and Barnes said they are now recruiting help from other states.
“As we get closer and closer, we have more people in the state volunteering,” Barnes said. “More people are coming from Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont to come and help.”
She said volunteers and staffers will be working on phone banks and knocking on doors every single day until the election, braving the cold to convince voters to Feel the Bern.
Sanders is scheduled to be in Iowa next weekend, but advisors said he might visit New Hampshire for a day or two next week. This week he will be meeting with the New York Times Editorial board, appearing on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon and meeting with African-American faith and political leaders in Baltimore.
Sanders will also be rallying hard in New Hampshire in the days leading up to the next debate, scheduled for Dec. 19 in Manchester.
Barnes said she didn’t worry about the close poll numbers, and that she knew New Hampshire was always going to be a hard battle. The one thing Barnes did seem slightly concerned about was the timing of the New Hampshire debate, scheduled on a busy shopping day a few days before Christmas Eve.
“It’s basically us and Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer competing for screen time,” she said.
Correction: The next debate is Dec. 19, not Dec. 18.
