New Hampshire Primary

What a whirlwind it has been the last several days! Today the New Hampshire primary took place. I cast my first ballot ever! It was surprisingly easy. I only had to fill out two forms and wait in line for about 10 minutes. I had been expecting a much more difficult experience.

Quite a bit happened in the run-up to the primary. Yesterday, I met Bill AND Chelsea Clinton! I was out holding Obama signs on a street corner. Some supporters of Hillary Clinton came as well. Chelsea greeted them, and she was quite gracious with us Obama supporters. I got to shake her hand and talk to her for a few minutes.

Later in the evening, I shook Bill Clinton’s hand as he came into one of the dining halls. He was charming as ever.

Some of Hillary Clinton’s supporters were not, however. As I was standing on the street corner one woman shouted repeatedly that she was not “voting for another unqualified mail!” She also declared that she would not support Obama if he won the nomination. Another kept talking about how we needed a mother to clean up after this country’s messes because men are generally worthless. It is worth noting that all of the Clinton supporters save for a couple were middle aged women. They could not find any Dartmouth students to stand on Hanover street corners with signs.

The Obama supporters by contrast were much more diverse both gender and ethnicity wise. Today, Obama himself came to campus and had a rally early in the morning. He gave a good speech, but one of the people seemed to faint in the middle. After the speech, I voted.

I am waiting for the returns now, and am quite anxious to see how he did. In the meantime, I am trying to focus on my classes. I am in four this term: One about medieval France, introductory French, advanced Chinese, and an earth science classes. So far the classes seem interesting. I will have more to report soon!