Unity prepares for Obama-Clinton
UNITY, N.H. (AP) - June 24, 2008 "We've had state senators and congressmen and people like that
who've walked in our Old Home Day parade when they were
campaigning, but I don't remember having any presidential
candidates here in my time," said Roberta Callum, who has lived in
the tiny western New Hampshire town for all but 12 of her 84 years.
That will change on Friday, when former rivals Barack Obama and
Hillary Rodham Clinton campaign together for the first time since
he won enough delegates to secure the Democratic presidential
nomination. As they try to ease tensions and bring their party
together, they are seizing upon both the town's symbolism and
symmetry - each received 107 Democratic votes in Unity on Jan. 8,
plus one write-in vote apiece from Republicans.
Friday's rally will be held outside the Unity Elementary School,
where Principal Chip Baldwin first thought the Obama staffer who
showed up last week was just another photocopier salesmen.
"My initial reaction was one of awe, and also, 'C'mon, you're
pulling my leg,"' Baldwin said Tuesday as several campaign workers
took measurements of the school's field. He pointed out the
classroom the school's 120 pupils in kindergarten through 8th grade
use as their "gym" and said he hopes the weather cooperates
Friday, given that there are no indoor options.
There isn't much in the rest of the town either, aside from one
general store, the county jail and the county nursing home. The
library, police and town offices are housed in a restored tavern,
where a jar of homemade cookies sits in the selectmen's meeting
room.
The town was founded in 1764 and named Unity because in granting
the land, King George III unified a group of petitioners who had
lost their land elsewhere in the colony. The 2,500 people expected
to attend the rally far exceed the town's 1,700 population. Locals
say the last time there was a crowd that big was for a 1970s
performance by folk singer Arlo Guthrie.
"It's going to be quite a spectacle. It's a historic moment for
the town," said Will Boutin, 58, owner of a general store. Both he
and his wife Kathy voted for Obama, as did their daughter,
Christine.
Though the two candidates tied in Unity, Clinton won the state,
resuscitating her candidacy and setting up the long campaign with
Obama.
Sen. John McCain won the state's Republican primary and has been
back in New Hampshire several times since, recognizing that it will
be a critical battleground in November. President Bush won the
state in the 2000 general election, but Democrat John Kerry
narrowly captured it in 2004, and Democrats took control of the
state Legislature and both congressional seats in 2006.
In Unity, about 45 percent of registered voters are independent
or undeclared, and Democrats hold a slight edge among those who've
declared a party preference.
Ken Hall, who was mowing the grass at the school Tuesday wearing
a T-shirt featuring the American flag, said he voted for McCain in
the primary but hasn't made up his mind yet about the general
election.
"I'm a Republican but it doesn't mean I can't change my mind in
the voting booth," he said.
But Callum, a lifelong Republican, said she doesn't expect to be
won over by Obama and probably would have skipped the rally had her
son not persuaded her to attend.
"You listen to this stuff for months ... it just goes on and
on," she said. "But my son says this is an event, you've got to
go, whether you're a Democrat or Republican."