bringing top presidential aspirants to a neighborhood near you 

New Hampshire’s enviable claim to the first-in-the-nation presidential primary affords Granite State residents unfettered access to the nation’s top candidates each election cycle. Voters on the Seacoast got a potent dose of that access last week, when three serious contenders visited the Portsmouth area within a 24-hour period.

Former U.S. Senator and 2004 vice presidential nominee John Edwards held a town-hall style meeting in the Granite State Room at the University of New Hampshire on the evening of Monday, April 2. At the same time, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani spoke to guests at a house party in Hampton Falls. Giuliani appeared at the Wentworth by the Sea Hotel in New Castle the following morning for a breakfast hosted by the Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce. That afternoon, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama made stops at the VFW post in Rochester and the Seacoast Media Group at Pease Tradeport.

At least a handful of hard-hitting questions arose from audience members at each event, compelling candidates of both parties to confront specific issues.

Edwards received a warm welcome from hundreds of students at UNH and got a spirited introduction from his wife, Elizabeth Edwards, who is battling a recurrence of breast cancer. The North Carolina Democrat then vaulted into a speech that stressed the need to scale back troops in Iraq, promote universal health care, make secondary education more affordable and reduce global warming.

The moment Edwards opened the floor to questions, however, attendees put him on the defensive. A woman from Dover took the microphone first and asked Edwards how construction of a 20,000-square-foot house fits with his vision of increased energy efficiency. Edwards is, in fact, building a 28,000-square-foot mansion in North Carolina, but he said it will implement energy efficient features, such as solar panels and passive solar heating. He also noted that he and his wife often travel in a hybrid car.

“I don’t claim to be holier than thou,” Edwards said. “I think we’ve been reasonably efficient … We’re doing everything we can to try to be responsible.”

Giuliani addressed a mixed audience of Democrats and Republicans during a breakfast that drew hundreds to the Wentworth on April 3. He stressed the need to lower taxes and stay on the offense against terrorism, which will require continued implementation of the Patriot Act, as well as “electronic surveillance and interrogation.”

The first question lobbed at the Republican asked him to explain how he intends to balance national security demands with constitutional rights. Opponents of the Patriot Act believe the war on terror has undermined constitutional rights that have defined the United States as a morally superior nation.

Giuliani suggested Americans should be willing to give up a certain amount of privacy and convenience in order to ensure national security. He said interrogation and surveillance methods must be legal and humane, although he condones “tough interrogation.”

Obama, too, faced questions with teeth. The Illinois Democrat’s forum at the Seacoast Media Group, which publishes The Portsmouth Herald and six other area publications, had a unique format. Instead of a direct question and answer session, Obama invited guests to share their health care woes and to offer ideas.

Visitors showered the senator with stories. Some said prohibitive costs forced them to go without health insurance for long periods of time. Small business owners said they struggled to provide their employees with adequate health benefits. Soaring health costs for disabled or diseased children had financially broken others.

Obama listened carefully to each account, but Portsmouth resident Leslie Brenner said she remains skeptical of the rookie senator’s ability to make a difference if elected. She asked Obama how hearing a barrage of sob stories, however moving, would help him enact change. “I’m just frustrated because hearing people’s personal stories doesn’t seem like anything new,” Brenner said.

In response, Obama fell back on his trademark message of hope. He assured Brenner and others that significant change is possible in Washington. Toward the conclusion of the forum, Obama borrowed a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. that audiences heard last time he spoke in Portsmouth, in December. “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” he said. “My goal in this campaign is to convince everyone that change can happen.”

Guests at all three events said they intend to see as many candidates as possible before primary season comes to an end. Leslie Parker, chief financial officer for a small marketing services company called Loyalty Builders, said she and her husband make a point of seeing plenty of candidates during every election cycle. The couple came to Obama’s health care forum with a special concern this year.

“Our dilemma is how are we going to be able to provide our employees with quality health care at a price that we as a company can afford?” Parker said, noting she recently received notice that her company’s health care costs will increase by 22 percent this year. “We’ve now hit the wall.”

Parker later told Obama that she would like to see the government offer health care breaks for young, growing businesses. The senator listened, but did not offer a direct solution. Parker has not decided who she will vote for in 2008, and she would like to see Edwards and Sen. Hilary Clinton before the primary.

A number of UNH students who saw Edwards in the Granite State Room on April 2 said they had also attended Obama’s February visit to the school’s Lundholm Gymnasium. “I’m into politics, so I like to see whoever,” said sophomore English major Patrick Villanova. “It’s definitely pretty cool just to see people you watch on CNN.” Villanova said he is currently leaning toward Obama in the primary, although he also likes Edwards and canvassed for Sen. John Kerry in 2004.

Freshman hospitality major Jessica Cockerham said she came out to see Obama in February and Edwards in April to keep herself informed on the candidates’ stances. “I’m leaning toward Obama, but I haven’t really heard what Edwards stands for,” she said as she waited for Edwards to arrive on April 2.

Before Giuliani took the podium in New Castle on April 3, Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce President Dick Ingram told the audience that the chamber does not endorse candidates. But he feels the Chamber has a responsibility to inform residents and business owners on the Seacoast. Greater York Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Cathy Goodwin echoed that sentiment when the breakfast was over. “It’s our responsibility to educate people about what the issues are,” she said, noting that people who live across the border in Maine can take advantage of New Hampshire’s primary prowess. “We’re so intertwined in what we do,” she said. “If the river weren’t there, we’d be abutters and neighbors.”

Dramatic restructuring of the nation’s primary could force candidates to refocus their attention as campaigns progress. At least eight states have pushed their primary dates up to Feb. 5, 2008, and more than a dozen others could follow suit. The change could spur candidates to spend more time in states outside New Hampshire and Iowa, which would likely force them to place more emphasis on a broader array of issues. Constituents in the deep South, for example, do not necessarily share the same priorities as voters in northern New England.

For now, voters in New Hampshire should continue to take advantage of the doting attention lavished upon them by presidential hopefuls. Given the chance, most politicians keep their speeches as broad and general as possible, emphasizing vague ideals instead of specific plans. But if contentious voters hurl tough, meaty questions, candidates will find them difficult to dodge. This, more than the lack of a sales or income tax, is the New Hampshire advantage, at least during primary season.