ANCHESTER, N.H. - There were too many cars, too many reporters, and too many candidates descending on too small a place all at once.
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WHO: Gary Bauer, George W. Bush, Steve Forbes, Alan Keyes, John McCain.
WHEN: Wednesday, Jan. 26, 7-8:30 p.m. EST.
WHERE: WMUR studio, Manchester, N.H.
MODERATOR: CNN's Judy Woodruff and WMUR's Tom Griffith.
SPONSORS: WMUR-TV and CNN.
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Causes vie to be heard on street
Crowds, cars create chaos in town
Excerpts from the debate
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The double-header presidential debate at WMUR-TV last night created logistical nightmares for just about everyone involved.
Traffic was snarled, backed up onto the highway near downtown. More than 100 media got turned away from entering the building, where the filing center was already packed to its 500-person capacity.
''With the State of the Union and the Democratic Party dinner tomorrow night, it was tough to find a good night'' to schedule the debate,'' said Mark Longabaugh, state political director for Bill Bradley. '' But clearly this is more difficult, trying to channel all these campaigns into one place. It's like a circus.''
And campaign staff, forced to watch the debate in the same basement room as the press, quickly found out there was not enough food catered to sustain them at the end of such a hectic day. ''I saw salami,'' said a woman standing near the food table, which by 8 p.m. had only sliced onions and bowls of mustard remaining.
A makeup artist had several TV personalities and six candidates' noses to powder - Arizona Senator John McCain came already done up - within just 40 minutes and at the end of it her clothes were smudged with flesh-colored foundation.
Hundreds of political supporters jockeyed for space in a mill parking lot across the street from the station. Their lawn signs competed for space in the snow banks.
And it was noisy.
The Village People blared from an unseen speaker as a youthful pep squad for Vice President Al Gore spelled out his last name during the ''Y-M-C-A'' refrain.
Secret Service agents, there to protect Gore, kept an eye on the whole scene, where one man wandered around with a rubber boot on his head. The only reason he gave for doing it was that ''it represents all that is good with America.''
Nearby was Captain Climate, a.k.a. Matt Stembridge, a Dartmouth graduate wearing a red leotard and cape in bone-chilling weather. ''I'm here to draw attention,'' he said, ''to global warming.''
