How do I get my wife to the NH Democratic Town Hall?
February 2, 2016 3:23 AM Subscribe
Birthday wish for my wife: Is it possible to get tickets to, or when does one need to show up to get into a NH Democratic Town hall when one is a Democrat in MA?
My wife's birthday is this week. She is originally from Vermont, is... 'feeling the Bern', and is engaged fully in the political process for the first time in (more than just voting) than she has been in the past. She's been engaged since he announced his candidacy. Neither her nor I have ever attended a political event like this*. Can you help me help make her Birthday wish true?
*I did cook on an open line for the Black National Caucus for the 2004 election cycle, as well as Al Franken's radio broadcast coverage of the same cycle. So I attended it, only in the sense that I went to work that day... but I don't think that really counts.
My wife's birthday is this week. She is originally from Vermont, is... 'feeling the Bern', and is engaged fully in the political process for the first time in (more than just voting) than she has been in the past. She's been engaged since he announced his candidacy. Neither her nor I have ever attended a political event like this*. Can you help me help make her Birthday wish true?
*I did cook on an open line for the Black National Caucus for the 2004 election cycle, as well as Al Franken's radio broadcast coverage of the same cycle. So I attended it, only in the sense that I went to work that day... but I don't think that really counts.
Best answer: Randomly pick any given NH college or university and there will often be more students at it from Mass than NH, and many from Vermont, so for any event held at a school it may be worth fishing around your social networks to see if you know an alumna or alumnus and find out if they've got preferential access.
posted by XMLicious at 4:23 AM on February 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by XMLicious at 4:23 AM on February 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Find out who's hosting it and contact them. It's probably a local nonprofit like the League of Women Voters or something. Don't mention you're from out of state; just say you're interested in attending. The majority of NH campaign events are just show-up type things, although when you have to show up depends. If you're interested in seeing the political process, but you can't get into the town hall for whatever reason, there will be a ton of candidate events this week. I took a vacation to do a bunch of those in 2008. The only major candidate I didn't get to see was Romney, whose events were less open. McCain, Edwards, and Clinton, I showed up a half hour to an hour before the published start time and just lined up. Obama took longer, but that was because it was his election night party. Still only about two hours of lining up, though, and definitely worth it to be fifteen feet away when he debuted the "Yes We Can" theme. I was definitely not the only out-of-stater, either. I met a bunch of people from Massachusetts, a kid from Rhode Island, and a woman from Japan, just the ones I remember. With a little planning, you can make a pretty good time out of it. The candidates will publish their schedules on their website, so just compare those with your availability. Most of the events will be in southern NH, too, since that's the heavily-populated part, so it'll only be a short drive for you. Totally do this.
posted by kevinbelt at 6:58 AM on February 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by kevinbelt at 6:58 AM on February 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I showed up a half hour to an hour before the published start time and just lined up
I used to live there and went to a lot of campaign events. Kevinbelt's advice about contacting the organizations is good, though you may get a prepared email response with venue instructions. His experience about showing up half an hour early sounds lucky - I had to wait much longer for most of my events, and would have been shut out of Kerry or Obama had I showed up at that later time - but it's true it's mostly about lining up. I'd plan on showing up a full 90 minutes-2 hours before. Don't forget that there's always competition for parking at these places, so you need time for that, and if you get there later you might face a long walk or problems finding a place to park.
One idea is that you might contact the organization sponsoring the event and offer to volunteer. Often that's a very good way to guarantee getting into the building - with the caveat that you might get put on line management or parking duty and have to run inside to catch the actual talk. But at least you'd be sure of being there.
Another note, events in Southern NH/the Seacoast also attract a lot more people than more Northern and Western events, so take that into consideration. In general, though, I think you'll be surprised that if you plan ahead and show up early the public events are not that hard to access.
posted by Miko at 7:56 AM on February 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
I used to live there and went to a lot of campaign events. Kevinbelt's advice about contacting the organizations is good, though you may get a prepared email response with venue instructions. His experience about showing up half an hour early sounds lucky - I had to wait much longer for most of my events, and would have been shut out of Kerry or Obama had I showed up at that later time - but it's true it's mostly about lining up. I'd plan on showing up a full 90 minutes-2 hours before. Don't forget that there's always competition for parking at these places, so you need time for that, and if you get there later you might face a long walk or problems finding a place to park.
One idea is that you might contact the organization sponsoring the event and offer to volunteer. Often that's a very good way to guarantee getting into the building - with the caveat that you might get put on line management or parking duty and have to run inside to catch the actual talk. But at least you'd be sure of being there.
Another note, events in Southern NH/the Seacoast also attract a lot more people than more Northern and Western events, so take that into consideration. In general, though, I think you'll be surprised that if you plan ahead and show up early the public events are not that hard to access.
posted by Miko at 7:56 AM on February 2, 2016 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks all, there were little tidbits on all of these that helped me generate my plan. I've got a Vermont Bear Bernie Sanders arriving in time and baby sitting coverage. I think I can make this happen!
posted by Nanukthedog at 8:16 AM on February 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Nanukthedog at 8:16 AM on February 2, 2016 [2 favorites]
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Move fast it's the last week in NH, probably just show up to any but the front runner will get you in the door.
posted by sammyo at 4:04 AM on February 2, 2016 [1 favorite]