Republican Presidential Debates

So, after a long day at work - it was one of those days where little gets done, but it seemed so complicated anyway!! My sister and I decided to head that 1.25 hrs. away to see the Republican candidates face off at the hockey arena in Durham, NH.

It did seem fitting that they held these debates in a college town in a sports arena. There was much posturing, skating around questions, sly body slams, goals discussed and points scored. There were not, however, any squid thrown.

We didn't have tickets because I didn't reserve them properly, but we showed up anyway, 2.5 hours before the debates began. They, of course, did not have our names on the roster, but told us to come back at 8:15pm and they might be able to accomodate us. We hit a great coffee and gelato place for the interim, walking what seemed like a mile in heels (ouch!! but worth it).

After a nice cappuccino and brownie, we headed back only to find a two pronged line that strangely resembled a snakes tongue. I don't believe in getting in line without knowing what its for... so we joined it about halfway to the door. This was lucky, because we ran into a great friend and college roommate, Representative Maureen Mooney with whom we shared the rest of the line journey. The only glitch was that she had a ticket and we didn't. In her kindness, she secured one ticket for us, and we waited in another line for another ticket.

As aggressive as we were, we were told to wait, and wait and wait until it seemed that the doors would surely close on us. The lines shuffled, didn't seem to move, people filled out forms, the workers checked names again and again... and then... for seemingly no reason at all... they handed out tickets like they were candy at a 4th of July parade.

We grabbed the ticket, rushed inside and found two perfect seats next to these two nice Ron "crazy" Paul supporters from Vermont (how fitting).

The candidates themselves were interesting, but the crowd was the real attraction. People cheered, clapped, booed, commented and really seemed to participate in every comment, every sigh, every look that a candidate made.

Guiliani seemed to draw a mixture of boos and cheers, Romney and McCain had a good show of supporters, and the Ron "crazy" Paul supporters were out en masse. His supported even used sidewalk chalk to decorate the, you guessed it, sidewalk to show their support. That's another post though.

The energy in the arena was phenemonal. Just another example of why NH is first in the nation.