[K]EENE, N.H. — When Ellen Mendelson moved a quarter century ago from Vermont to New Hampshire, the only change in the lay of the land was her postmark.
And her proximity to presidential candidates.
Were Mendelson still living in the Green Mountain border town of Brattleboro, she’d follow all 23 Democratic 2020 aspirants through the press. But settled in the first-in-the-nation-primary Granite State, the school social worker can host any of them on her Keene porch — as seen when New Jersey U.S. Sen. Cory Booker mingled with 160 of her neighbors this month at a campaign house party.
“I want to meet people,” she says, “they need a place, and I like the home idea.”
Mendelson welcomed Booker with the help of her husband, Allen, a financial consultant whose white hair, glasses and blue blazer required him to tell the crowd “I am not Bernie Sanders.”
“I am not ‘The Rock,’” added the bald, 6-foot-3 Booker.
He may wish he was. Booker launched his campaign Feb. 1 with a call for unity to heal a politically polarized nation. But if such recent headlines as Politico’s “‘The Democratic Base Is Angry as Hell’: Cory Booker’s Message of Love Falls Flat” are any indication, voters want someone more fiery.
The latest Monmouth University Poll of likely New Hampshire voters shows former Vice President Joe Biden leading in the Granite State with 36% support, followed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders at 18%, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg at 9%, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren at 8%, California Sen. Kamala Harris at 6%, and Booker tying with Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke at 2%.
“To be strong you don’t have to be mean, to be tough you don’t have to be cruel,” Booker countered at the house party. “I had a guy put his arm around me and say ‘I want you to punch (President Donald) Trump in the face.’ I said, ‘Hey, man, that’s a felony, and us black guys, we don’t get away with that.’”
“To me, these are races where you’re going to have to earn people’s votes,” the candidate continued. “We know historically the front-runners this far out are often not the people that end up winning those early primaries.”
Booker nonetheless is raising his game. He sparked recent headlines for proposing that all gun owners be licensed by the federal government in a process that would include an interview and safety training.
Booker also has made news in unintentional ways, such as when a van accidentally crashed into a Miami, Florida, location where he was campaigning last month before stopping a few dozen feet from him.
“He stuck around to take pictures and talk,” the Miami Herald reported.
The incident hasn’t deterred New Hampshire residents from hosting similar house parties for Biden, O’Rourke, Klobuchar and Warren this month.
Says Booker host Allen Mendelson: “We’re just trying to make all the candidates feel welcome.”
