Last month, I traveled to four town halls in New Hampshire: those of Lindsey Graham, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, and finally Ben Carson.
Dr. Carson’s gathering stands out as unique among the four town halls that I went to: he was the only one with any real security. He was the only person who stood on a stage, separated from those in attendance. His speech was the longest.
His was also the worst.
Like the other town halls, I arrived at Dr. Carson’s event 30 minutes before it was scheduled to start, at 2 pm. Like Mr. Bush, Dr. Carson’s event took place at a college: Keene State College, in Keene, NH. Unlike Mr. Bush’s, and unlike anyone else’s, where Dr. Carson was to speak was the toughest to find.
Someone in the Carson campaign must have realized that people didn’t know where to go fairly late, as there were “Carson” signs being put up on the campus, with arrows drawn on top pointing the way to the event.
When I arrived at the entrance of the building where Dr. Carson was to speak, the first thing I noticed was the lengthy security line, which was moving slowly. The second was the table full of books, written by John Philip Sousa IV, the great grandson of the famed John Philip Sousa, and detailing why Dr. Carson was the best prescription for America:
The line lurched forward, as the Secret Service asked people to step through a metal detector. Over the course of the 15 minutes I was in line, two people were asked to leave because they had Swiss army knives (one, which I was able to see, was the size of a nail clipper). I had real no problem making it through, though they did ask me to turn on my camera and turn it off again.
I finally reached the town hall about 5 minutes before it was supposed to start. The crowd numbered in the mid-200s, and seats were arranged in front of a cordoned-off stage. While it seemed that Mr. Graham, Mr. Christie, and Mr. Bush greatly valued being close to the average voter, Dr. Carson either chose not to, or was unable to.
So I sat, and waited. 2 pm came and went, and unlike all the other candidates that I saw, Dr. Carson did not come out on time, or at least within a few minutes. I took the extra time to take some pictures and get a sense of the mood of the room.
Eventually, at 2:15, Dr. Carson began to be introduced. By 2:20, with introductions over, he emerged from backstage behind a curtain and began to speak. And speak he did.
The other candidates that I saw spoke for about 20 minutes, talking about why they think they’re uniquely qualified for the Presidency and peppering their speeches with details of what they’d do as Commander in Chief. It was focused; when their spiel was over, they took questions.
While the substance of Dr. Carson is worthwhile and intelligent, he often speaks with the fluidity and rambling of someone who’s just taken a heavy dose of NyQuil. Say what you will about Mr. Donald Trump, but his ability to get a point across with rapidity and in simple language is enviable.
Thus, Dr. Carson’s speaking style is, in person, just like it is represented on television. And unlike the other candidates, Dr. Carson spoke at least twice as long.
A few minutes after 3 pm, I decided to leave; Dr. Carson was still speaking, still giving his main “speech,” and didn’t seem to have an overarching point; if he did, it didn’t seem like he’d be getting there any time soon. Again, this is not to say that what Dr. Carson was saying was wrong. It just didn’t seem to have any real urgency behind it all.
That was my final Town Hall of the weekend, a learning experience to say the least and a lot of fun for a political junkie like me.
Some of my final takeaways from the experience:
-Sometimes candidates are not how they seem on TV… and sometimes they most certainly are.
-A politician who is able to get close to voters and shake their hand makes a drastically larger impact than one onstage, divided from the people whose vote he or she hopes to gain.
-Sitting three feet away from Senators and Governors is kind of cool, even if it is Lindsey Graham or Jeb Bush.
-Being on time is important. I had gotten used to President Obama being habitually late for… everything. It was great to go to these rallies and have most of the candidates arrive within five minutes of when they were supposed to.
-Now that I’ve experienced these town halls, I’d really like to experience the atmosphere of a Trump, Cruz, or Rubio event. I went to a Romney campaign rally three days before the 2012 election and the excitement was palpable and I wonder if someone like Trump could match it this early.
That helps to explain some things.
I’ll take “brash” over “soft spoken” thank you.
It’s easy to explain his tardiness:
CPT… Colored People Time
Ben is simply keeping it real…
The reason for all the security is that they were afraid that somebody would sick a fork in Carson, and find out he’s done.
🙂
Make that “stick a fork”.
Damn typos – if only someone could think of some way to correct them right after they are posted…
Oh, wait –
The only person I would spend my time going to see would be Trump. He’s energetic and to the point. Carson puts me to sleep, he’s boring. He might have something to say, it takes him forever to say it. Drives me nuts.
why doesn’t anyone shout racism when ben carson is attacked?? he actually is black
I’ve seen Cruz, Rubio, and Trump at live events. I can attest that Cruz and Rubio are not even in the same league as Trump. Aside from the sheer size of Trump’s events–thousands and thousands of people–they are fun, positive, exciting, and above all filled with hope that our long national nightmare is soon to end.
Cruz events are serious affairs; small crowds–couple hundred people, canned snippets of the same speech, (saw him twice).
Rubio’s crowds can’t even be called crowds. I think there was about 100 people at one event in Keene; he is downright somber to the point of leaving you hopeless. He seems to lack the humor gene, which certainly isn’t a requirement for the presidency, but it makes it more work to get behind him.
Plus he’s a GOPe, so he wouldn’t get my vote even if he were hilarious.
They call them town halls, for the lower tier candidates. For trump, a town hall would be impossible.
There might be factors compounding the problem with Carson’s campaign and his poll numbers are dropping fast.
Major General Robert Dees, Carson new campaign manager, thinks “values’ instead of “volume” is more important. Ironic. If anyone needs volume, it’s Carson.
Also, one of Carson’s advisors is talk show host and black activist posing as a conservative, Armstrong Williams. He’s a wackier version of Montel Williams (no relation).
Carson is on the outs with most evangelical Christians because as a Seventh-day Adventist he do not believe in a literal Hell. Carson still insists reaching across the aisle is not a problem for him and that strategy is way too liberal for solid conservative voters.
Popular as he may be, Carson operates like the soft spoken, bespectacled, nerdy, unassuming college professor he truly is and that doesn’t encourage confidence in his ability to deal with the issues destroying this country.
Not believing in a literal Hell is no big problem. Being unqualified to hold the nation’s highest office is. Time to hang it up, Ben.
🙂
For some evangelicals Christians it is. I did state in comment other factors that are possibly hindering Carson’s campaign. Agreed, Carson is not going to be the Republican nominee. BTW, I’m not a supporter. Trump is the only candidate strong enough to stomp the Hellary the Hilderbeast.
Regrettably, I fear that Trump is not electable. Believe me, I take no joy in saying that, either. I just think that ultimately, the American electorate will be too scared of his unpredictability to vote for him. Politics aside, Cruz looks more Presidential than any of the other leading Republican candidates. Mind you, I have no favorite here, and I could be wrong, but that’s my honest opinion.
That being said, I would vote for anyone over Hillary, even (shudder!) Jeb or New Jersey Fats.
I’d like to know more about why you think Trump is unelectable. From my perspective, he is a strong breath of fresh air when you imagine hillary’s shrill voice. Also, I just read a couple of pieces last week (this week?) about his climbing polling numbers among blacks, hispanics and indies. And because the media is loathe to report any good news for Trump, I suspect those numbers are even better than reported.
I thought I made my opinion pretty clear, so I don’t know what more I can add. It’s an opinion, pure and simple. You have yours; I have mine. I try not to argue with other people about their opinions, because it’s usually pointless.
🙂