Locals Bash, Praise Candidate Debate

MANCHESTER, N.H.--Town locals, campaign volunteers and undecided voters discussed, bashed and praised the debate performances of the five democratic presidential candidates, as they engaged in good old-fashioned porch swing politics and bar-stool commentary at restaurants and support rallies across the Granite State.

Television stations were tuned into the debate in many downtown Manchester restaurants Sunday night, as watchers cheered their candidates on. At the Salty Dog Restaurant, located blocks away from several of the candidates' headquarters, campaign workers and amateur political commentators gathered to discuss the future of the 1992 democratic ticket.

"No one is stellar," said Monica M. Paddick, an undecided voter from Philadelphia. "They are technocratic candidates who don't seem to address the issues that the people care about."

Paddick, who is leaning toward supporting the Mario Cuomo draft movement, came to New Hampshire to decide which candidate to endorse. But unlike Paddick, most watchers had already declared their loyalty to one of the campaigns and were ready to comment on the candidates and predict the outcome of today's primary.

"[Bill] Clinton and [Tom] Harkin were insanely bad," said John Domesic, a reporter from the Challis Messenger in Idaho. "Harkin is completely superficial and [Jerry] Brown's ideas are better than all of them."

Although most observers have a favored candidate, they also said they believe the race will be close and that a singular good or bad performance on television will not "make or break" any of the presidential potentials' election efforts.

Michael J. Lombardo, a realtor and private investigator from Cherry Hill, NJ, said he believed [Bob] Kerrey might have made some gains from the debate because of his aggressiveness. He added that [Paul] Tsongas was the "loser" because he had the curse of Bush's campaign last election, being a whimp, and that Tsongas would make a good secretary of commerce. Lombardo was at the Kerrey rally in Concord yesterday, parading with a sign in support of Clinton.

At the Clinton debate watch party at the High 5 Restaurant, supporters said they were thrilled with his performance and that Clinton should have enough of a stronghold on the voters to win a spot on the '92 ticket even if he loses to regional favorite, Tsongas.

"Clinton gave the best performance--he showed both communicative skills and a grasp of the issues," said U.S. Representative Dave McCurdy (D-Oklahoma), chair of the House Intelligence Committee. "What is important to the public is who best can compete against Bush...The most articulate is Clinton. He has no hesitation, no shuttering."

Joyce M. Zwirnbaum, a student from George Mason University and a Clinton volunteer, said that Clinton's "electability" and his appeal to a wide range of age groups are major factors to his success during both the debate and overall campaign.

And Clinton supporters, as well as other candidates' constituencies, agree that bad press, negative campaigning and a misconstrued comment will not chip any presidential would-be's image in the Granite State.

"Clinton has already come off two major hits...and he is still in the front-running," said Rebecca A. Mattila, a volunteer at Clinton's Washington office. She said Clinton's ability to maintain credibility in the race after the Jennifer Flowers and draft controversies proves that voters this year are more concerned about hard core issues.

Tsongas followers also felt their candidate will feel no repercussions from his alleged "Japan bashing" during the debate.

After a speech at Phillips Exeter Academy yesterday, Tsongas told The Crimson that he believed in taking a strong stance in trade negotiations with Japan and that he did not imply that the United States should take any legislative actions in the form of boycotts or sanctions. He added that he was "no Japan basher."

Despite the differences in what observers believe and predict, however, most debate watchers agreed that no matter which candidate appears on the ticket in 1992, any Democrat will be a better alternative to the Bush-Quayle team.

"There is a good field of people running this year," said Lombardo. "What will determine who will be in the [presidential] election will be voter turnout...But it won't matter who will be the standard bearer in the election because anybody is better than Bush."