at Manchester Community College in New Hampshire.
She held a Town Meeting and took questions on a wide range of domestic and foreign policy issues.
The breadth and depth of her experience, knowledge and leadership was apparent to all as she received many standing ovations.
The most moving testimony came when she addressed gun violence and introduced the mother of Dylan, a young boy killed at the Newtown elementary school in Connecticut. Dylan’s mom stayed composed in calling on us all to fight the NRA and help pass gun safety laws. It was Hillary that got choked up and lost it. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room by the time she finished speaking.
On her way out I had a chance to speak with her on the rope line. I showed her a photo of my daughter, Heather, an honors graduate of her alma mater, Wellesley College. She held my hand, looked me in the eye, and commented how beautiful she was. I thanked her for championing education reform including the re-financing of college debt. She was so warm and gracious.
I was smitten and I resolved then and there to re-double my efforts to elect this extraordinary leader our next President.
Fred Rich LaRiccia
…in which she called on responsible gun owners to form an organization separate from the NRA to “take back the 2nd amendment”. It occurs to me that there are probably many gun owners whose feelings toward the NRA are similar to those of liberal Christians toward the Religious Right, in that the vocal and well-organized minority give the majority a bad name.
I can tell you that you are absolutely right.
As a teenage NRA member I learned how to target shoot a 22 rifle and became quite a marksman. I know many NRA members who support sensible gun safety measures but their voices are drowned out by the leadership at the top of the NRA.
Hillary’s call for NRA members to form a separate organization to “take back the 2nd amendment from the extremists” got a loud standing ovation !
Fred Rich LaRiccia
One of the reasons why Hillary won big in her New York senate campaign in 2000 was her dogged determination to meet people across the state, primarily in the Midwest portion of the state (west of Albany, where the nearest major body of water is the Great Lakes). She far performed expectations west of Albany, which helped her to a substantial win against Rick Lazio, a congressman from Long Islander who proclaimed himself to be the “real” New Yorker.
I contend that Hillary wouldn’t be having the problems she is having now if she pursued the same strategy on a national level. No, she didn’t have to show up at events for town supervisors, school board members, and county legislators, but she really needed to show up at significant events in each state that attract activist Democrats.
For example, spending a day at the 2013 or 2014 Democratic State Convention would have gone a long way to shoring up support in Massachusetts. The 2016 Super Tuesday primary appears to be consequential this year, and Massachusetts is a constant source of volunteers who blanket New Hampshire. It’s much more difficult to wander off and support Bernie or Joe Biden when your facebook page has a treasured photo shaking hands with Hillary. This would have been strategically very important in a state where there is a prevailing stream of chatter that all of these other candidates are okay, but I really wish Elizabeth Warren was running.
Tip O’Neill was scolded by a neighbor who he assumed would vote for him. People like to be asked, she said. It’s true, and the usual suspects like to be asked. Perhaps, if Hillary did a little more asking over the past two years, she wouldn’t be having these problems gathering the base.
I’d rather have a mature and thoughtful President who may need a bit more time to get the policy right than an impulsive Trump who literally mimicked an angry gun owner shooting from the hip.
Fred Rich LaRiccia
… she needs to get elected.