By Jill Zuckman, Globe Staff, July 5, 1999
HOPKINTON, N.H. -- Under the scruffy pine trees of the state fairgrounds, the far right of the political right gathered here yesterday to review their choices for the Republican presidential primary with hot dogs, hamburgers, and old-fashioned stump speeches.
Missing the action, however, were Texas Governor George W. Bush and former Red Cross director Elizabeth Dole, who skipped the picnic and straw poll, though they were campaigning in the state yesterday.
"I'm delighted," said Robert Kingsbury, chapter leader of the John Birch Society of the Lakes Region. "Because the good ones are here."
The "good ones" who came to work the Fourth of July crowd were Gary Bauer, former head of the Family Research Council; Patrick J. Buchanan, the television commentator; and Bob Smith, the New Hampshire senator. The event was cosponsored by some of the state's most conservative voices: the Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers, the Christian Coalition, the Gun Owners of New Hampshire, the John Birch Society, and New Hampshire Right to Life, among others.
"It's a shame that some of the candidates with the money and the ratings don't try these events," said Smith. "It's good for the spirit."
Some conservatives in this first-primary state have been irritated at the hoopla surrounding Bush's candidacy as they find their concerns diluted by too many competing conservative voices. Smith has even begun musing about creating a third party in order to promote his progun rights and antiabortion concerns.
Barbara Haynes of Claremont said it feels as if the nomination is a done deal for Bush, though the first primary vote here will not be cast for at least another six months.
"I think the Republican Party is planning on him winning the nomination," Haynes said. "I don't think he comes out and says what he stands for."
Haynes is supporting Bauer, she said, "because he's a Christian and he stands for things we need to return to." She said she is not sure if Bush will include an antiabortion stance in his campaign platform.
Helen Brown, a cake decorator from Nashua, sat down in the shade and looked around. "Where's Dole?" she asked. Brown said she was miffed Dole skipped the event and said she would now back Buchanan.
Officials from the Dole and Bush campaigns said yesterday that they did not want to ask their supporters to pay $25 each to demonstrate their support in the straw poll -- though they are doing just that in an upcoming Iowa straw vote. Both Dole and Bush, who are leading the polls, marched in parades yesterday in Amherst and Merrimack.
"Why show up at a place where he's going to lose the straw poll?" said Jim Rubens, president of THINK New Hampshire, a conservative think tank cosponsoring the picnic. "This is a conservative event. The people here are conservative and looking for a conservative candidate to get behind."
Buchanan won the straw poll with 646 votes. Bauer placed second with 235, and Smith was third with 104.
Rubens said Bush has been running as a moderate, and with great success so far. But as he marched with Bush in the Amherst parade earlier in the day, Senator Judd Gregg, Bush's state chairman, disagreed with characterizations of his candidate as anything less than conservative.
"This is one of the best conservatives we have in the party," Gregg insisted.
In an interview yesterday morning, Dole said she intends to speak her mind without regard to polling data and special interest pressures.
"What I'm going to do is just be myself and lay it out," she said. "People can take it or leave it."
Of the thousand or so voters who braved temperatures in the mid 90s yesterday to attend the straw poll, many oppose abortion and taxes, support gun rights, and proudly promote what they view as Christian values. People in the crowd here made it clear they detest President Clinton, and loudly cheered Smith for voting in favor of impeachment.
In fact, some in the crowd said they are even more to the right thanthe average conservative.
"I'm not a conservative, I'm a reactionary," said Richard E. Kennedy, a state representative from Contoocook. He said he does not like Dole because "I like to hunt, so the hell with her," referring to her stance on guns. And he said he did not like Bush because of his father's "betrayal" on raising taxes.
But conservatives have a problem within their ranks, and they know it.
"When we split ourselves up, the liberals win," said Smith, urging the people to unite behind one candidate. "We're all conservatives, we all agree on the issues. . . . Ladies and gentlemen, if we're going to change America, we've got to win the election."
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