THOMAS OLIPHANT

Up close and personal

By Thomas Oliphant, Globe Staff, March 16, 1999

MANCHESTER, N.H. - John McCain is not a big guy, but he exudes a quiet intensity that is as arresting on television as it is in person. It starts with the eyes that bore into you, making a connection that the Arizona senator seals with an interesting habit of raising his eyebrows way up while he listens.

McCain also attracts people I call "nodders," folks any pol would kill to have. Talking to a small group, you notice people unconsciously nodding their heads while they listen to his invariably plain talk, a classic sign of connection.

Gary Bauer is also not a big guy, but at 52 he has trouble overcoming with his persona the accidental fact that he appears much younger than he is. He talks very well about himself, a necessary ability for a conservative activist not well known outside movement circles. But he tends toward boilerplate rhetoric on the issues, too much like a guest on a cable show and not enough like a president.

But he knows the game. It might not please all of the state, but on New Hampshire's school funding challenge he goes right after his fellow conservatives with attacks on the state Supreme Court's decision requiring reform.

By contrast, Bill Bradley is a very big man. His one-on-one skills are as famous in politics as they were in basketball. But he is far from overpowering or overbearing; in fact, he comes off smaller, often diffident, occasionally distant.

Part of it is intellectual. He isn't ready to define himself yet, so he is constantly labeling topics "interesting" and saying of specific ideas, "It might be something to look at."

The visual symbol the other evening here was his footwear, distracting tan walking shoes more suited to a California software designer headed out for sushi. It's as if he had the words "Not Yet" stamped on his forehead.

Eventually, everyone who runs for president next year will have to turn off Main Street here and go a few blocks into the old mill area to the new studios of WMUR-TV, the ABC affiliate of statewide reach, for 30 minutes of deceptively easy work.

The New Hampshire Citizens' Forum is being sponsored in an act of inspired corporate citizenship by Citizens Bank, part of the scrappy New England banking group, together with WMUR.

Everybody who hopes to be anybody will go through a short chat with a reporter from the station, then questions from three-dozen potential voters. The resulting shows will start airing Saturday evenings later this month and will then be distributed through the schools.

Between now and well into the fall, this is likely to be the best single opportunity for each of the 11 Republicans and two Democrats currently in the mix -- reaching something like 100,000 people in the state per broadcast.

Nothing on television could duplicate the famous "coffee" of Iowa and New Hampshire fame -- 20 to 30 people in a living room listening to and questioning a candidate. But this is as close as you can get.

By design, it's introductory, personal in the proper sense of the term, issue-oriented without edge, and therefore ideal in a small-state campaign that is often a case of first impressions. The upside potential for someone who connects, like Senator McCain, is obvious.

But so is the downside, which is why the celebrities other than Bradley -- meaning Vice President Al Gore, Texas Governor George W. Bush, and Elizabeth Dole -- will come here inadequately prepared at their peril.

It's not that Bradley did poorly; it's that he failed to impress. He told interviewer Jennifer Vaughn, "The taste is in my mouth," that his zest for the race is real. But he projected laid-back distance, not just in appearance and manner but in conversation.

Bradley often talks around issues; he's better at establishing the significance of a topic than he is at putting his stamp on it.

A good example at his taping earlier this month was campaign money. He gave a magnificent short course on the issue, noting that limiting candidate spending is either going to take a constitutional amendment or a trade-off for public fund.

But if neither giant step is possible, he said the first step must be a ban on the unregulated gobs of cash called soft money. And that is the longstanding Clinton-Gore position.

The instructive contrast is with McCain. Upfront, he self-identified as a conservative. He said he had never voted for a tax increase, was a proud parent of the line-item veto, and was devoutly prolife.

But without prompting, he also brought up his documented willingness to go against a majority of his party colleagues in Congress on issues like campaign reform and smoking, arguing he has the kind of independent spirit that people up here have on occasion rewarded.

And he used humor well. Asking for support and noting the fate of Arizonans Barry Goldwater, Mo Udall, and Bruce Babbitt (all pals, by the way), he said it wasn't fair that Arizona moms can't tell their kids they have a chance to grow up to be president.

These shows won't generate the traditional political headlines or opponent-trashing controversy.

They will, however, be the best short course on the crowded field available until the race heats up. The sponsors should be congratulated, and the people should watch.