In N.H, partying like it's 2000

By Jill Zuckman, Globe Staff, May 2, 1999

SALEM, N.H. -- At Steve and Dianne Hatem's gorgeous stone mansion here, Al Gore was laying himself out for the voters of New Hampshire to poke, prod, and scrutinize in a time-honored ritual.

At the back of the Hatem's dark blue living room with a vaulted ceiling, Larry Belair stood sipping a soda, fingering a camera in his suit pocket, and watching the vice president work the room.

"I'm just looking and listening," said Belair, the town moderator and owner of a local amusement park.

Here in the first-in-the-nation primary state, people joke that they expect to meet each candidate several times before making up their minds. And yet, it is no joke. Voters like Belair attend multiple house parties such as this one to look over the would-be-presidents in the months leading up to the primary and to test them with questions tougher and more varied than the White House press corps might throw out.

Over the course of three house parties in one day recently, Gore fielded questions covering 18 topics, ranging from the Balkans crisis to hate crimes, and from President Clinton's misbehavior to an obscure agricultural controversy about "terminator" seeds.

"It's the type of thing that shows the mettle of your candidate," said Paul Young, a veteran Republican strategist who is working for Steve Forbes. "The candidate has to be able to deal with it."

Michael S. Dukakis, the 1988 Democratic nominee for president, said the point of attending a coffee or house party is to meet and impress the political activists so they will work for your campaign.

"If you lay an egg at these house parties, you're not going to have a particularly effective grass-roots organization," Dukakis said.

Gore is expected to attend at least 50 coffees, barbecues, and parties by the time the primary rolls around next year, said William H. Shaheen, his state campaign chairman. So far, he has been to six.

Gore campaign officials say they let the host or hostess and a key local supporter make up the invitation list. Of the 50 to 100 guests at any one party, about 70 percent are uncommitted and have never met Gore.

For lesser-known candidates, however, pulling together a house party is far more difficult. When Jimmy Carter began running for president in 1975, Shaheen said he used to beg his relatives to invite Carter to their homes. If eight people were willing to come listen to the Georgia governor, Carter would show up and give his pitch.

The parties are not limited to presidential politics, either. It's a New Hampshire tradition for all politicians, from mayors to state representatives to governors.

"The rest of the presidential process doesn't permit this kind of intimacy," said Thomas D. Rath, a veteran Republican activist who is supporting Lamar Alexander. "When somebody goes to someone's home in California, it's usually to a much bigger house and with everybody all holding checks."

On a recent Saturday, Gore began his party hopping in Keene, as a steady hail bounced off the roads. Gore walked into Robert and Alfrieda Englund's white colonial, saying hello, greeting many guests by name, and getting his photo snapped at every turn.

Terry Clark, a Web designer from Swanzey, told Gore there is one thing the vice president must do this campaign season. The advice, however, was not a secret strategy for winning the primary. Instead, Clark said he is still waiting for a White House photo of him and Gore taken during the candidate's last visit to Keene.

And Dan Burnham, a state representative from Dublin, thanked Gore for sending him a note when he was sick. "Are you feeling better?" Gore asked.

The crowd jammed into the living room, spilling out into the foyer and the dining room and the kitchen.

For his part, Gore tried to introduce himself and describe his view of the future in a short talk that he is destined to give hundreds of times this year. Wearing a casual shirt and slacks, a silver Western belt buckle and black cowboy boots, Gore noted that he has served as vice president for 6 1/2 years, has been married nearly 29 years, has three daughters and one son, and is expecting his first grandchild in June.

Gore reminded everyone that he is a Vietnam veteran and spoke of the war in Kosovo. He denounced the crimes against humanity being committed by the Serbs.

"Will the 21st century be shaped by men in black masks with weapons in their hands and hatred in their hearts?" he asked. "My answer is no. The future will be shaped by Democratic values."

Jeff Spielman, an independent from Westmoreland who runs a manufacturing company, was more concerned about whether Gore will make the return of dignity and respect to the Oval Office a significant part of his campaign. Gore, however, did not want to get into a discussion of President Clinton's sexual escapades and brushed off the question.

"I think the American people feel strongly and overwhelmingly that they want to focus on the future and not the past," he said. "You embody values in the positions you take. . . . I am who I am, and I'm happy to give you my positions."

That did not satisfy Spielman, who already thinks of Gore as a "family values person" and believes he should include it as part of his agenda.

"I think he needs to step out of the shadow of what we've all been living with," Spielman said.

Over the course of the day, Gore tells the same jokes about baby boomers, HMOs, and taxidermists at each of the parties. For example, there's the one about the HMO executive arriving at the pearly gates. St. Peter tells him he can come in -- but only for three days.

By the third telling at Peter and Patty Thompson's home in Bedford, Gore gets the biggest laugh of the day from a crowd that has polished off seven bottles of wine waiting for his arrival.

Earlier in Salem, Larry Belair, the owner of Victorian Park Family Entertainment Center, is mildly skeptical, hanging back to eye the candidate from afar. He said he's interested in Gore's vision for the future, but Bill Bradley has called him, too, and they met privately as well.

"I'm trying to find out who's got a grip on where we're going," said Belair, adding that he is concerned that the economy will need more management to keep humming.

Belair listens as Gore bats away the questions about Medicare, about disabilities, about history, about health insurance, and about teacher pay.

He has never met Gore, but now he thinks of him as "very warm, very human," unlike his caricature as an automaton.

"He's covering the whole range of issues," Belair said. "He was impressive, I was surprised. If I say any more, they'll want me to work on the campaign."