By Laura A. Kiernan, Globe Correspondent, 10/10/99

A lesson in civics and civility unfolded in the Concord High School cafeteria recently when some students decided they wanted to voice their objection to having workers for the Steve Forbes presidential campaign in the lunchroom trying to recruit supporters. By last week, Forbes campaign manager Bill Dal Col had talked to the school principal, questioned a young Forbes volunteer about her alleged bad behavior and apologized directly to Concord High senior Mike Deloge, who said the woman had humiliated him about his height in front of his friends.

Then, to Deloge's surprise, the Forbes campaign flew the woman back to New Hampshire and brought her to the principal's office at Concord High School to meet with Deloge and apologize ''for anything she did that was embarrassing or inappropriate,'' Dal Col said.

And Forbes himself called Deloge at home and said he was sorry for whatever had gone on. ''He wished me the best of luck,'' said Deloge, who had written a letter to the local newspaper about the incident, but was a little overwhelmed by the campaign's response.

Said campaign manager Dal Col, ''if a kid got offended by somebody who worked for us, you fix it.''

Meanwhile, some parents were asking why campaign workers for anybody were in the school. The Forbes people had signs, pamphlets, bumper stickers and offers of free T-shirts. Concord High principal Tim Mayes said, ''We're trying to educate kids,'' but the Forbes workers broke the ground rules about staying put at their information table and not soliciting students. Mayes said candidates are no different than Army recruiters or college reps. But in the cafeteria that day, some of the students didn't see the Forbes ''Youth Campaign'' as just another ''Career Day.''

One student took a piece of paper from his notebook and drew up a petition saying there was ''no place'' for politicians in the cafeteria. Deloge, recounting the incident later in a letter published in the Concord Monitor, said the complaining students thought the school was being used to ''disseminate propaganda.'' Then, in what he admits now was a bad idea, Deloge, who is 4 feet 11 inches tall, asked a Forbes volunteer who was handing out pamphlets if she wanted to sign the petition. After reading it, Deloge said the woman looked at him and said, ''That's very funny and you're very short, too.'' Deloge also said he saw the woman write a crude descriptive word on the petition.

Deloge, who is 18, said he took back the petition and said, ''Forbes isn't getting my vote.'' She then retorted, ''Yeah, and you're a big man, too.''

Dal Col says the woman, an out-of-state college student, denies it all.

What's the upshot of all this? Deloge said he's glad he stood up for himself, and so is Dal Col. ''This young man felt he was personally offended and he wrote a letter to the editor and he went public with it,'' Dal Col said. ''That took courage.''

Editorialist sports the right credentials

''Just because I'm a young woman doesn't mean I'm not ferocious,'' says 26-year-old Bernadette Malone Connolly. Say hello to the new editorial writer for the Union Leader of Manchester.

''I'm a right-winger. They wouldn't have hired me otherwise,'' said Malone Connolly, who for the past four years has been working in Washington as a reporter for nationally syndicated columnist and talk-show regular Robert Novak.

''She's got her own mind and her own opinions on everything,'' Novak told us last week. ''She doesn't always agree with me.''

Executive editor Charlie Perkins called Malone Connolly a ''true believing conservative'' who will play a high-visibility role for the newspaper, making her case in print and in person. Malone Connolly, who grew up on Staten Island, was the editor of the conservative student newspaper while she was at the State University of New York at Binghamton and has been published in The National Review and in the Weekly Standard.

''It's just a dream position for me,'' said Malone Connolly in a telephone interview. She will replace the often heavy-handed Richard Lessner, who abruptly left the newspaper last spring and is now working for conservative GOP presidential candidate Gary Bauer.

Berlin mayor sees a difference in Gore

The up-close-and-personal side of the Al Gore campaign for president paid off last week when Berlin Mayor Dick Huot, a Republican and early supporter of Texas Governor George W. Bush, announced he was switching his party registration to Democrat and was now supporting the vice president.

Huot says that during a small breakfast meeting with Gore and his wife, Tipper, at Lawrence and Elizabeth Kelly 's house in Berlin, he realized Gore ''was a real normal human being.'' Huot asked Gore about the future of the White Mountains, and the group of 10 to 12 people talked about economic issues. Huot said he watched Gore's eyes and body language and noticed, for example, that when the vice president talked about a cash-strapped senior citizen having to choose between buying food or buying medicine, ''he was on the edge of his seat and was very much into what he was saying.''

''I've never seen him this warm and genuine looking,'' said Huot, who described himself as a moderate Republican who has twice voted for Governor Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat. ''I didn't see that on TV ... he's a caring man,'' said Huot who works for Tri-County Community Action.

Huot said he had gotten caught up in the ''early whirlwind'' around Bush's candidacy and had agreed to become a ward chairman for his campaign. But he said he had never met Bush, adding, ''I don't know a lot of what he stands for.'' Bush is expected to make his first North Country campaign trip in November.

Broadcaster leaves a good impression

State Representative Alice McDonough-Wallace, 76, a Manchester Democrat, and her friend Helen High, 75, were bubbling with enthusiasm recently about a two-day bus trip they took to Montreal last month with about 40 other senior citizens - and Mike Wallace from CBS.

The ''60 Minutes'' veteran broadcaster - no relation to Alice - was investigating whether prescription drugs were cheaper in Canada than in the United States He was ''very, very nice,'' McDonough-Wallace said. A busload of seniors had been recruited by the National Council of Senior Citizens for the excursion - part of a nationwide project to point out disparities in drug prices. Wallace and his crew tagged along. Small groups were taken to a drug store to get their prescriptions filled while the others waited in the hotel lobby for their turn. It turned out McDonough-Wallace's prescription for eye drops wasn't any cheaper in Canada and High didn't feel like waiting any longer to get her high-cholesterol medicine, so the ladies decided to go sightseeing. They said two other women, whose prescriptions were a lot cheaper in the Canadian drug store, got all the attention from Wallace and his ''60 Minutes'' crew.

Group shows path of drug firm money

Both McDonough-Wallace and High were on hand in Concord last week for release of a report by Money Watch 2000, an alliance of New Hampshire and Iowa citizens groups which intends to beat the drum for campaign finance reform from now until the last vote is cast. The report says drug companies ''and their allies'' have given $1.6 million to presidential candidates and political parties since January and spent $31 million to ''influence the debate'' now before in the Congress about expanding prescription drug coverage under Medicare.

The report is titled ''The Flo of Money'' and is named for the sprightly senior citizen ''Flo'' who appears in a blitz of TV ads in which she says she doesn't want Washington in her medicine cabinet. According to Money Watch, those ads are part of a $30 million advertising campaign paid for by a group called ''Citizens for Better Medicare,'' which gets most of its money from the pharmaceutical companies.

Sam Makrut, executive director of New Hampshire Citizens Aliance, said the pharmaceutical companies are just one of many special interest groups that use big money to drown out the voices of individual citizens. ''We need to change the system,'' said Makrut.

Citizens for Better Medicare did not respond requests for comment.

Veteran journalist will report via Web

Short takes: Former Boston Globe reporter John Milne, a veteran political writer in New Hampshire, has signed on as senior editor for the Web site Primarydiner.com. Milne, 53, was senior editor with BusinessToday.com, an Internet news service. He also has been editor of the New Hampshire Times. Milne will supervise daily content on the site, which focuses on the 2000 primary election, and conduct on-line interviews with presidential candidates ... The state Republican Party's family Day is on for Oct. 23 at the Hopkinton State Fairgrounds. There will be rides, food and, oh yes, some candidates for president ... Also on the calendar, Texas Governor George W Bush is scheduled to be in New Hampshire and Vermont Oct. 21-22.

Got a tip or a comment from the campaign trail? We want to hear from you at: Political Diary, Boston Globe/New Hampshire Weekly, 1650 Elm St., Manchester, NH 03301, or by e-mail at Kiernan@globe.com. Please include home and work telephone numbers.