Bay State Democrats head north to help push for Gore

By Marcella Bombardieri, Globe Staff, 11/9/2000

ant to know whom to thank, or blame, for Governor George W. Bush's win in New Hampshire Tuesday?

It was that guy in the white Bonneville. The one with the ''My president is Charlton Heston'' bumper sticker.

OK, so this is not an objective point of view, or even a realistic one. But it makes perfect sense if you're Tom Tinlin, a guy from South Boston who spent a couple of cold and rainy days in New Hampshire, along with hundreds of others from the Bay State, trying to rally support for the Democratic ticket.

The guy in the Bonneville was following Tinlin and some Southie buddies as they placed Gore signs along Route 101 in Manchester Monday. Let's just say that some unfriendly words were exchanged on the question of who might be sabotaging whose placards.

The story is told by Tinlin not to malign the anonymous driver, but to illustrate the mixed reception in the Granite State for hundreds of Massachusetts Democrats who spent days on a get-out-the-vote effort, going door to door (that's GOTV and ''knock and drop'' to the insiders) in New Hampshire.

They were union members, congressional staffers and, more than anything else, members of the political machine of Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

The delicate matter, of course, is that New Hampshirites are not always fond of neighbors from ''Taxachusetts,'' especially neighbors who try to meddle in northern politics.

Consider Tinlin's experience as a very small, very unscientific pollster. On the day he traveled along Route 101, some people waved or honked in support as Tinlin worked. But plenty of others made a certain, less polite, hand gesture. And a few, who got a peek at the license plate on Tinlin's green Explorer, shouted ''Why don't you go back to Massachusetts and take your signs with you.''

Overall, the canvassers met with little hostility, Tinlin, Menino, and others said. But then again, people don't know what state you're from when you knock on their doors.

Then there's the question of impact. Bush topped Gore by one percent (48 to 47, with Nader taking 4 percent), and by just over 7,000 votes. So was there more they could have done?

''I can't figure that one out,'' Menino said yesterday about the loss for his man, Gore. ''I'm still trying to understand.''

But Menino still called the night a victory for his troops. After all, their work in New Hampshire came at the request of Governor Jeanne Shaheen. And she beat challenger Gordon Humphrey by a comfortable 5 percent.

One observer, Andrew Smith of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center, said the party faithful from Boston may well have made at least a small dent. Perhaps Gore would have lost by more than a percentage point without them, Smith said.

The real impact on the famously conservative state is made by the number of Massachusetts natives who are moving to southern New Hampshire, Smith said. People born in Massachusetts now make up 27 percent of the state's population.

''It's not the people who come and help out that scare Republicans, it's the ones who stay,'' said Smith. ''They're far more likely to be Democrats, and in the past eight years they've caused an important shift in New Hampshire politics.''

Still, volunteers were game to have at least a small role in a state where there was actually something at stake, as opposed to the safe bets for pretty much all Democratic candidates in Massachusetts.

Menino said he brought about 70 people on Saturday and Monday and 120 on Sunday. They staffed a phone bank, held signs, and knocked on doors, mostly in the Manchester area. The effort was actually old hat, since they had done similar work in both the state and presidential primaries.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy's office coordinated with carpenters union members, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, City Year participants, and staffers from the offices of Representative Edward J. Markey and John F. Tierney. All told, another 180 people aligned with the Massachusetts congressional delegation helped out on Tuesday, focusing on the Portsmouth area.

''I always thought Boston politics was a blood sport, but boy do they take their politics seriously up there,'' said Tinlin, who, when he's not taking time off to GOTV, is deputy commissioner for transportation in the city. ''It was trip, let me tell you.''