Jim and Jeanne Moser couldn’t have imagined such a simple solution could have saved their son’s life in 2015. Five years later, the East Kingston, New Hampshire couple is working tirelessly to keep others from making the mistake they did, and educating others worldwide on the importance of disposing of excess prescription opioids through their national campaign, Zero Left for the Medicine Cabinet. 

According to the American Society of Addiction,  four out of five people who develop an opioid addiction start with legally prescribed pills, whether it be pills prescribed for themselves, a friend, or family member. This was ultimately Adam’s fate, and what makes his death the most painful. Now with the New Hampshire primaries looming, the parents of four, like many other New Hampshire residents, are still pondering who the best candidate to tackle the important issues like the opioid crisis is. 

On September 19, 2015, 27-year old Adam Moser died of a fentanyl overdose, after four years of secretly struggling with an addiction to opioids. Moser was one of four to die of an opioid overdose that weekend, and one of 444 opioid overdose deaths that year in New Hampshire, which has consistently been in the top five states with the highest rates for opioid deaths for the last four years.  “Unbeknownst to us, he was helping himself to opioids we had left over from our joint replacement surgeries,” Jeanne Moser said. “ We were prescribed these and neither of us really liked them, so we put them in our kitchen cabinet. By the time that we found out he had a drug problem, it was the night that the police officer told us he was dead.” 

Just days after Adam’s funeral, Jeanne headed to the pharmacy to pick up pain medication for Jim, who had just had knee surgery which had been previously scheduled before Adam’s death. 

She was shocked at the contents of the bottle.

“I was like, ‘Here we go again, ” she said, recalling the devastation of seeing 150 Percocet and Oxycontins being prescribed, and bursting into tears as she drove away.  “The doctor came to the funeral. Didn’t he know? Why would he do this?”

Per doctor’s orders, he only needed 30 pills, which were to be taken over the course of seven days.

“I was disgusted,” Jim Moser, who works as a surgical scrub deck, said.  “I ended up flushing the rest down the toilet.”

 When Jim Moser was cleared to return to work, this was when the Mosers realized the gravity of the drug problem not only facing New Hampshire, but the country as whole, pushing them to begin brainstorming the ways they could join the fight against addiction.

“I was going down the road of how to get medication prescribed more accurately,” Jim Moser said. “No one asks you when you have surgery ‘How many pills did you actually use?’ Surgeons usually give you the maximum prescription so that they get less calls from patients asking for more.”  

 In 2017, the pair began building the campaign with flyers, PSAs, and public addresses around the country about the dangers of unprescribed opioid use, even getting recognized by President Trump during a March 2018 speech about his $6 billion plan for fighting the opioid crisis at Manchester Community College. Most notably, the couple was able to join forces with doctor and fellow friend, Thomas McGovern, to distribute Deterra, a disposable drug deactivation system that uses water and deactivated charcoal to dilute pills when mixed together in a plastic pouch. The campaign’s launch was on January 1, 2019 and as of March 2019, the couple has helped healthcare facilities throughout the country to distribute over 175,000 Deterra packages.  In addition to the implementation of the Deterra packages, New Hampshire law now requires an informed consent form be given to patients needing opioids. In addition to detailing the possible risks and side effects of opioids, the form also asks patients to do a risk assesment where they are asked about family or personal history of substance abuse, sexual abuse, and psychological disease such as ADD or OCD.

The Mosers recognize that because a national crisis can’t be solved by one person, leaving them unsure who would be the best candidate to handle such a national, and personal, crisis, as the nation’s next President.

“The problem is so big. The DEA will tell you they can’t arrest their way out of this problem. When I hear a political candidate speak about the opioid crisis, it doesn’t matter what side they are on, or if I personally like them or not, they can’t really promise anything,” Jeanne said. “Maybe through the healthcare funding avenue that it could get fixed. Getting folks the mental health they need may help in not leading them down that path.”

In the eyes of recovering addict and author Timothy Macmahan King, who became addicted to prescribed opioids meant to treat acute necrotizing pancreatitis, the policies that the presidential candidates have proposed for addressing the opioid crisis are much better than that of Trump’s, who he believes is only talking about the opioid crisis for political gain.

“There are candidates that you connect with because of policy issues and there are candidates you connect with because you believe the stories they are telling about the world,” said King,  a storyteller himself, recently writing a book called “Addiction Nation: What the Opioid Crisis Reveals About Us”  where he talks about his journey to recovery, as he questioned and explored the things that fuel addiction in a society. 

“Donald Trump has named an issue that resonates with his base, while not following through with good policy. I’m watching what he is doing and how effective it is and I’m shocked that the Democrats don’t see it and find a way to counter it.” 

In order to be able to pick the right candidate, King said he needs a candidate who presents a healthy balance of relating to the people on a personal level, and a policy level when it comes to important issues. For him, that candidate would be Andrew Yang. 

“I think he is doing the best job at creating a narrative that connects with what people are experiencing in their day to day lives through his big policy ideas. It’s a long shot for him to become president but I’m really glad his voice is in the mix but I hope other Democrats keep listening to what he had to say.”

Nik Orestis, retired paramedic and firefighter for the city of Manchester, also feels like the role mental health has in drug addiction really needs to be addressed, remembering the horrors he saw while working in emergency services, which he worked in from 1992 to 2017.

“I worked two 24 hour days and had four days off, “ Orestis said. “It was a great career, but we got overwhelmed with drug and mental health cases. It was brutal. When I would see people in the back of the ambulance, the older generation would say that it started because of their prescription medication. For the younger kids, the mental illness had a lot to do with it. They just wanted to get away and it [using opioids] was a way for them to handle depression, suicidal thoughts, schizophrenia, and things like that.”

Despite starting in 1992 when the opioid crisis was really just beginning, Orestis actually saw some of the worst cases around 2017.

“I was seeing five to seven overdoses a day in the city of Manchester alone. Some of them were repeats,” Orestis said. “They overdose, you give them a dose of Narcan, they come back, and you would pick them up later that night for the same thing. From my colleagues that I’m still friendly with today, it’s still pretty bad.” 

Orestis looks forward to candidates providing better access to mental health as a means to combating the opioid crisis and believes that Bernie Sanders is the best man for the job because of his Medicare for All plan.

“I agree with him 100% that medical care for everyone should be a right so I’m aligning myself with Bernie Sanders,” he said. “How far that will go, I don’t know but I like his platform. The biggest thing I hear from people is ‘How is he going to pay for it?’ Hopefully we all find out.”

The post New Hampshire residents split on which candidate will attack the state’s deadly opioid crisis. appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Video by Bessie Liu

Story by Amanda Perez Pintado

Blankets of snow covered the desolate sidewalks on Main Street in Nashua, New Hampshire. The sun was out, but the chilly air prickled the skin. Nearby, residents sought refuge from the bitter 20 degree cold in Nashua Public Library. 

In the library’s basement, an area designated for activities, Martha Alvarado spoke to a group of about a dozen Latin American immigrants like herself. On Saturdays, she dictates a citizenship preparation class. 

“I started to get people motivated to become American citizens, teaching them also why voting is important, why it’s important to have the blue United States passport,” said Alvarado, 53, in Spanish. “Because with that one has more commitment with our nation, more commitment with oneself.”

Alvarado migrated from Colombia to the U.S. 20 years ago and moved to Nashua in 2010. She became a U.S. citizen in 2009, and she believes it is important for immigrants to make their vote count during Tuesday’s Democratic presidential primaries. Her vote will go to billionaire activist Tom Steyer. 

“What is more beautiful than becoming an American citizen and voting?” she said. “Voting is very important. If we stay in this country it’s because we like the democratic system, we like politics here, the possibility of working.”

New Hampshire’s primaries are decisive for the Democratic Party’s battle for the presidential nomination. The primaries in the north-eastern state follow the polemic Iowa causes, whose official results were announced late Sunday night. 

The voters in the last midterm elections were the most ethnically and racially diverse ever, according to Pew Research Center. In 2018, the number of naturalized-citizen voters nearly reached 10 million, almost equaling the 10.8 million naturalized citizens that voted in the 2016 presidential elections. 

Among the 11 Democratic presidential hopefuls, Steyer is Alvarado’s first choice because of his policies on education and climate, particularly his promise of declaring state of emergency to tackle climate change if elected. 

She hopes whoever prevails in November will make immigration his or her priority and propell reforms that will protect DACA recipients and provide an easier path for undocumented immigrants to become citizens. 

 Eva Castillo, director of New Hampshire Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees, has dedicated most of her life to advocating for immigrants. She arrived in the U.S. from Venezuela in 1975 and moved to New Hampshire in the early 1980s. 

Sitting at a table in a Mexican restaurant in downtown Manchester, Castillo said there were few Latinos when she first moved to the Granite State, but has noticed that the Latino population has grown in the past years.

Those who identify as Hispanic or Latino makeup 3.9 percent of New Hampshire’s 1,359,711 citizens, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. White residents make up 93 percent of the population, making it the least racially diverse of the early caucuses and primary states. 

Castillo, 63, said the Democratic Party has taken Latino voters for granted. 

“They don’t really put much of an effort to reach out to the Latinos, and they feel like we’re going to vote for them because what is the alternative?” she said. “But I am tired of voting for the lesser of two evils because evil is still evil. And they’re really not doing much for us as it is.”

She said the Democratic candidates have not made immigration a priority during their campaigns. In fact, the issue was absent from the debate stage in New Hampshire last Friday. 

“They have the policies, but nobody has made it a special subject in their campaigns,” said Castillo. “They will answer questions if we ask them, but both in the debates they don’t really make an issue out of immigration, which is really frustrating and pretty sad to leave so many millions of people out of the picture.” 

To get Latin American immigrants involved in the elections, Castillo argued, campaigns should hire bilingual staff and people of color, the campaigns’ literature should be available in Spanish. 

No matter who wins the nomination, Castillo said, the aim for the upcoming presidential elections should be to vote out Trump. 

“I hope everybody supports the winning candidate and that the Democratic Party realizes that the goal is to eventually defeat Trump and that we cannot start bickering about whose candidate is better,” said Castillo. “I don’t want to repeat what happened in the previous election.”

Michael Zhang and Suhu Liu attended last Saturday’s Democratic Party dinner in an arena in downtown Manchester to see which candidate has what it takes to beat Trump. The couple and their children walked through a swarm of potential voters and candidates’ supporters and stopped at a table with tech entrepreneur Andrew Yang’s campaign.

Zhang and Liu migrated from China in 2006, and their two children were born in the U.S. 

For Zhang, 45, policies and personal character are a determining factor in winning the presidential election. The family’s top pick is Yang. 

“We like Andrew Yang very much,” said Liu, 44. “We feel like we will vote for someone who most likely has a chance.” 

Sandra Almonte, owner of the restaurant Don Quijote in Manchester, said Trump has helped improve the economy and her business has flourished since he took office. She does not agree, however, with his stance on issues such as immigration and hopes he gets voted out.  

Sandra Almonte, 48, immigrated to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic. Her top Democratic presidential candidates are Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Photo by Bessie Liu

Almonte arrived in the U.S. from the Dominican Republic in 1998 and she has owned the restaurant for almost 20 years. She employs 12 people, all of whom are immigrants too. 

Speaking over the sounds of bachata and merengue coming from a jukebox, Almonte, 48, said her favorite candidates are Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

“I like Joe Biden’s experience when he was with the Obama administration,” she said. “I really don’t follow politics much so I don’t know all the different details that they have, but I like for what Elizabeth Warren stands for, and I’d love to see a combination of them run our country.” 

Deepa Mangalat, 55, is a volunteer and community worker in Nashua, New Hampshire. She will vote to get President Donald Trump out of office. Photo by Amanda Perez Pintado

Deepa Mangalat refused to say Trump’s name. She was terrified when he became the Republican nominee in 2016, and she fears that he will remain in office four more years if Democrats “don’t get their act together.”

“It’s voter apathy that got us to this place,” said Mangalat, 55. “It’s because people did not vote.” 

Mangalat migrated from India and has lived in Nashua for 30 years. She has worked in the city as a volunteer and community worker. 

During the last Democratic primaries, her candidate was Sen. Bernie Sanders, but this time around she is undecided. She said, however, that she would like to see a woman in the White House. 

One thing is for certain: Mangalat will vote for the eventual nominee to get Trump out of office. 

“Nobody can be as bad as the one sitting in the White House, nobody,” she said.

 Bessie Liu and Amanda Perez Pintado are students in the Reporting the Nation/NY in Multimedia concentration

The post Immigrant voters in New Hampshire gear up for the primaries appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

New Hampshire native Timothy McMahan King was there and approached the Massachusetts senator. He handed her a copy of his book, “Addiction Nation”, published in 2019, which details the story of his past opioid abuse.

“Elizabeth Warren has a great plan [for solving the opioid crisis],” King said. “Love it. On paper.”

But in reality, he has serious doubts about whether it could be put in place. In fact, as an undecided Democratic voter, from one of the top states most affected by the opioid crisis, King believes that every single front runner in the primary election has laid out effective proposals to deal with one of the most serious health crisis plaguing the country.

“But they aren’t campaigning on it like they need to,” King said.

Timothy McMahan King, a New Hampshire native, published “Addiction Nation” in 2019, detailing his stuggle with opioid abuse. He stands in front of the Restoration Cafe, where a few hours earlier he briefly met senator Elizabeth Warren. Photo by Catarina Lamelas Moura

While the opioid crisis typically doesn’t make it into the top ten issues in democratic candidate’s stump speeches, it is currently listed in the top five in the White House’s official website, the author pointed out.

“There’s something that they’re looking at that the Democrats aren’t,” he said. “You call up a normal person and you ask them what their top issues are, drug policy is not going to be up there. But it’s not a policy issue. It’s a narrative issue. And Trump knows how to win on narrative.”

A total of 67,367  people died from drug overdoses in 2018, according to the Center For Disease Control And Prevention. That same year, New Hampshire had an age-adjusted rate of 35.8 deaths per 100,000 persons, close to double the national average of 20.7.

That year’s numbers also show the first decrease in drug overdose in the past 28 years (4.1% decline from 2017) — a fact Trump took credit for in his latest State of the Union Address.

“So Trump comes to New Hampshire and he taps into that,” King said. “But he’s not there to talk about the policy. He’s there to have a very deep visceral connection with the ways that people have lost family.”

The author argued that the only candidate who has been able to appeal to people on this level has been Andrew Yang.

“He goes to people and he’s like ‘what’s different in your town,’” King said. “But none of the other Democrats are integrating it that way, because it doesn’t show up as the policy issue that people care about. Where Trump’s campaign has identified ‘oh, this is a story we can tell that justifies our other policies.’”

At the recent McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club Dinner,  which gives the Democratic candidates a platform to speak to funders and supporters, Lisa Klaud, 42, from Hooksett, New Hampshire, still hadn’t decided on who to vote for in the upcoming primary, but said she was leaning towards Andrew Yang.

“I think he has a tremendous amount of energy and intuition in terms of reading what the American public is experiencing,” she said. “He’s the only candidate that really understands what’s going on if you’re dealing with extreme poverty or your middle class. New Hampshire has its set of very specific challenges, and he’s been able to speak to all of them.”

Klaud also praised Yang’s Freedom dividend as something that would greatly impact the lives of people impacted by the opioid crisis.

“[It] would make a huge difference for anybody who’s raising children who are their children’s children, which in the state of New Hampshire happens a lot,” Laud said. “The foster care system doesn’t have sufficient beds for all of the people who are impacted. So that would really help struggling families to be able to make due when they’re doing parenting the second time around.”

Some Democratic voters who attended events over the weekend leading up to the primary looked at the opioid crisis as part of a larger issue. Cara Flynn, 19, a student currently living in Boston, has seen many people around her impacted by this problem.

“It’s more of a human rights issue,” Flynn said. “I believe that without Medicare for all, or without a universal health care plan, that it’s just going to keep happening. People are going to be taken advantage of and that includes not having access to health products that they need. And because of that, they turned to something more accessible, like drugs, alcohol.”

Samantha Spiers, 29, attended the McIntyre-Shaheen 100 Club Dinner, while still undecided on who to vote for in the primaries. Photo by Catarina Lamelas Moura

Samantha Spiers, 29, of New Hampshire, is leaning towards voting for Bernie Sanders. Although “it’s hard to meet someone who hasn’t been affected” by the opioid crisis, Spiers said that everyone is divided on how to address it. 

“People still don’t even see substance abuse as a mental health issue and as a health issue,” she said, stressing the importance of universal health care.

On the moderate side, John McSheffrey, 52, from Newbury, New Hampshire, wants to see big government hold big pharma accountable — a position he has seen on opposite sides of the political spectrum, both from Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump’s republican challenger Bill Weld.

“I think that [the opioid crisis] goes hand in hand with the importance of caring for the working class,” McSheffrey said. “You protect the middle class with Social Security, you’re protecting the middle class with jobs, you’re protecting the middle class with protecting their education and their healthcare, and protecting them from the exposure the big pharma pharmaceuticals.”

Whoever is elected has to be able to bring people together, he said.

“We’re not polarized. We’re not,” he said. “Our politicians are polarized. We’re a country in the middle. But the primary process takes us to the left and right, right, and we end up having extreme candidates. We need to have moderate candidates, because most of us are moderates. Most of us are in the middle.”

Surviving in Manchester

Hope for NH Recovery, in Manchester, is a community center where people with an addiction can find safe haven. Keith Howard, 61, its executive director is looking for a politician who can address the challenges of living in the 21st century. 

Hope for NH Recovery is a community center in Manchester, New Hampshire, for people recovering from addiction. Some of the art made there is displayed along the halls. Photo by Catarina Lamelas Moura

“As I am making my decision, It’s very unlikely that a politician’s position on increasing funding for opioid treatment or recovery is going to play much into my decision,” Howard said. “I think that politicians can have a much more direct hand in then fighting what I see as being an existential, philosophical issue of the emptiness of modern life. I don’t think that there’s a Senate bill that is going to bring meaning to people who need drugs just to get up the courage to live.”

As someone who has been in recovery for 12 years, Howard’s views stem from his beliefs on the underlying cause of addiction.

Keith Howard, 61, is the executive director of Hope for NH Recovery. He has been in recovery himself for about 12 years. Photo by Catarina Lamelas Moura

“I think that addiction is caused by alienation from humanity and alienation from the world,” he said. “If a person is alienated drugs make you feel better. If you are having your human needs met, then you don’t need drugs as much.”

Carlos Zemban, 57, a recovering addict,  spends a big part of his week attending meetings and hanging out at Hope for NH Recovery. About 30 years ago he left Santa Catarina, Brazil, for New Hampshire and hasn’t been back since. In 2016, Zemban was one of the 46,5% people in New Hampshire who voted for Trump. Hilary Clinton won the state by a very slim margin.

Carlos Zemban, 57, is recovering from substance abuse and spends a big part of his week attending meetings and hanging out at Hope for NH Recovery. Photo by Catarina Lamelas Moura

Zemban, is currently homeless and looking for a job, having been laid off from his previous position in construction three months ago. As a single parent to a 12 year old daughter, he sees Trump as the candidate who can better address his concerns.

“Being a single father, looking for assistance is a big deal. Every time you go to get assistance or anything, it’s like a barrier they have. That’s a policy that has to be changed around,” he said. “This year I have to find a way to advocate for a single father, with a kid, to find a place to live. Because a woman with a kid can get anywhere she wants to, but a guy with a kid, it’s very hard to get help. It’s a lot of barriers.”

Having used everything from alcohol, to cocaine, prescription pills and heroin throughout most of his life, Zemban has been in recovery since September of 2018. His substance abuse started back in Brazil, at the young age of 11.

“When I left Brazil I thought I could come here and start fresh,” he said. “But I ended up going the same way really.”

Now he said he is turning his life around.

“I can see myself sitting on the porch, my own house. You know, it happened before so why not?,” he said.

For the moment, he is focused on staying clean. And come November he will once again cast his vote for President Trump.

Catarina Lamelas  Moura is a graduate student in Reporting the Nation/NY in Multimedia concentration

The post Democrats have a plan for the Opioid Crisis. Yet Trump tells the story many Americans want to hear appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

For starters, the Manchester event was held in a sporting arena. Activists and operatives grouped themselves into sections according to their preferred candidates. Big ticket donors were eating and drinking the night away as the candidates emerged one-by-one onto the main stage to bright lights and thunderous applause.

All this activity spoke  a central question the party has struggled with: Which wing of the party—the grassroots, the progressive camp or the more moderate, establishment faction—do Democrats think is best-equipped to take on President Donald Trump in the general election?

Many voters and pundits assumed the answer would become clear after the results from the first caucus and primary states came in. But the event in New Hampshire did little to provide clarity. With uncertainty clouding the outcome of the Iowa Caucus, and with so many different candidates still in the race—some of whom are here and some not — many New Hampshire Democrats are questioning whether there will be a clear answer about the party’s future direction even after Tuesday’s primary.

Nina Turner, Bernie Sanders Campaign Co-Chair, and former Ohio State Senator, excites an audience of supporters in Manchester, NH ahead of the last debate before Tuesday’s primary. Photo by Ahmed Mohamed

“Honestly, I am more confused leaving this event than I was going into it,” said 57-year-old John Bonelli as he stared down at his rainbow-colored, donkey-shaped lapel pin. “You hear one candidate speak and you see the appeal. Then you go to another candidate’s event or town hall and they also work for you—it’s tough.”

Mr. Bonelli, who identifies as a progressive and voted for Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont in 2016, was joined by his best friend and former college roommate, Norman Price.

Mr. Price, a self-described “middle-of-the-road” voter, said he too was impressed with many of the candidates, although he left feeling the strongest about Klobuchar and Warren. “I recognize that they don’t exactly represent the same thing,” Mr. Price said, “but they are—in my opinion—both energetic women who have garnered the most goodwill among the supporters of other candidates.”

Mr. Bonelli and Mr. Price are only two of hundred-thousand or so New Hampshire voters who will finally be having their say in Tuesday’s primary. Indeed, how New Hampshire voters feel about a candidate has historically been a pretty reliable barometer of whether or not that individual would go on to win the nomination.  In the past 50 years, no candidate has secured the nomination without placing in the top two slots in the Granite State.

This year, however, as conversations and criticisms about the lack of racial and ethnic diversity in the early primary states, New Hampshire included, many voters here are cautioning that not that the results here may not be as predictive as in past years.

“There are three paths to nomination: the progressive and establishment lanes, and then there’s the Bloomberg path,” said 62-year-old Leslie Kellern, referring to the candidacy of former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who is not on the New Hampshire ballot.  She said that as she was leaving a kickoff event for Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. “He’s the third piece of the puzzle that makes me even more uncertain about who to put my support behind,” she said.

Josie Pinto, a native of New Hampshire and a regional director for the New Hampshire  Youth Movement, a grassroots effort that has partnered with another similar group called the Sunrise Movement  said that the party needs to hear from other states: “New Hampshire is not a diverse state, many of us have multiple bachelors’ degrees and come from fairly privileged backgrounds, so we have been—and hope to continue—listening to movement allies and grassroots organizations across the nation about who they believe has the best chance of beating Trump,’’ said Ms. Pinto.

Over at the nearby Manchester Double Tree Hotel, where party’s more establishment supporters mingled in the lobby over cocktails and pretzels while they mulled over ways to close ranks and support just one moderate candidate that they feel could best defeat Mr. Trump.

At the same time, many grassroots organizations, which lean more toward Mr. Sanders or Ms. Warren, were canvassing across the state, using a broad array of progressive issues and policies that they felt could bring nonvoters into the fold.

While all eyes are currently on New Hampshire, many voters may be looking elsewhere for guidance on a winning strategy.

“I would like to see how other, more diverse states make their judgements before casting my vote,” said Ms. Kellern.

Ahmed Mohamed is a graduate student in the Business and Economic Reporting Program

The post Confused by Iowa and unsure about who is electable, some New Hampshire Democratic voters are pouring water on the first-in-the-nation primary.  appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

But every four years, when the primary campaigns come to New Hampshire, that economic activity spikes even more. This is especially true for the small businesses in Manchester and nearby Nashua that are taking advantage of the hordes of people coming to the state by turning their stores into venues for political events and discussion.

One such place is the Bookery in downtown Manchester. The bookstore has been in business for nearly two years, and Benjamin Pasley, it’s manager, said it has undergone a major overhaul in that time.

“It was completely different than what it is now. It was a little bit more bare-bones,’’ said Pasley “It was still buzzing because it was brand new, but it wasn’t as busy or as popular as it is now.’’

One big change, he said, was in the mix of customers coming to the Bookery. He said he’s been able to attract newer and younger readers to his store. “The longer we’ve been open, we’ve seen a lot more newcomers as opposed to regulars. We still have those regulars, but we’ve seen a huge influx of different faces as opposed to just regulars all the time,” said Pasley.

Many of these new visitors to the Bookery are eager to engage in political discussions, especially those in their early twenties and who may be casting their first ballots this year.

“We’ve had candidates; we’ve had staffers, we’ve had the younger generation, Gen Z; it’s so cool to see that they’re so involved in politics,” said Pasley. The Bookery stayed open until midnight on the Friday night of the Democratic debate, livestreaming the event for a crowd of about one hundred people. This primary activity has resulted in a doubling of traffic to the store, he added.

Across the street from the Bookery, Café la Reine, a coffee shop, is going through its second election cycle in the seven years it has been in business. Alex Horton, its owner, said she “has definitely embraced” the political punditry this time around.  For instance, the café has capitalized on the political fervor by hosting trivia nights based on political history.

The café itself sees “a really good mix of people,” said Horton. This mix includes people who work in the nearby city hall, people who work for tech companies, and students from area colleges such as Southern New Hampshire University and Saint Anselm College.

“I really wanted to create a community space where everyone was welcome, and I feel like people have embraced that,” said Horton. This mix of customers at the café broadens during New Hampshire primary to include news media and even candidates themselves. In 2016 Republican candidates John Kasich, Carly Fiorina and Chris Christie visited. And, just as he has in years past, the ever-colorful local political activist and performance artist who goes by the name of Vermin Supreme made a recent appearance. This year, Horton said that the Café la Reine has seen a 25 to 50 percent increase in traffic on many days.

“It’s an exciting time to be downtown in Manchester,” she said.

Toadstool Bookshop in nearby Nashua relocated from neighboring Milford in the fall of 2019 and also operates two other stores in the state. The change of location to Nashua has brought in an influx of new customers said Mike Joachim, the manager.  He said about 80 percent of the customers at the old Milford location were regular customers and only around 20 percent were newcomers and first-time buyers.  By comparison, customers at the new Nashua location seem to be evenly divided between regular customers and new ones. He said he is also seeing an increase in African-American and Hispanic customers along with other ethnic groups new to the state.

The primary has boosted his business in two ways, said Joachim.  For starters, there are more customers when the once-every-four-years primary takes place. This year, Joachim said his business is up by around 15 percent. The other effect is that most of the candidates have a book to sell and most of those books tend to be fairly popular. For instance, he said that the Buttigieg book, “Shortest Way Home.”  “has been selling pretty well.”

Down the road in Nashua, Riverwalk Café has expanded far beyond its origins as a coffee roasting business in the ten years since Steve Ruddock bought. It now has expanded to include a music venue and full bar.

Until last November, the café had been booking live music acts four nights a week in genres ranging from bluegrass to blues, from country to funk. Now, he is adding other activities such as salsa dancing, which “is getting a lot of folks in there that didn’t know much about us,” according to Ruddock.

But it is politics that can really draw a crowd. Riverwalk Café has seen all the Democratic candidates come to his café, along with their campaign teams. said Ruddock.  He has taken advantage of this political interest by hosting events on Thursday nights where the campaign teams will come in and answer questions from the public for an hour or two.  Just last week, a team from the Bernie Sanders’s campaign was the featured group.

Ruddock said that the events have “been good” because the teams “drink a lot of coffee.’’  He said the Democratic primary has increased business by 10 percent during the week and by as much as 15 percent on busy weekends.

Last week, he said, even some Trump supporters attended the Sanders event.  In the end, the two sides managed to have a cordial conversation over pizza and beer.

“It blew me away—that experience alone said there’s some potential for some communication here; it doesn’t have to be all nasty,” said Ruddock.  Riverwalk Café even has a turkey melt sandwich named after Bernie Sanders, who ordered it repeatedly when he visited the café during the 2016 Democratic primary.

Sam Del Rowe is a graduate student in the Business and Economic Reporting Program

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New Hampshire has been hosting presidential primaries since 1916 and started its tradition of being the first presidential primary in 1920. But as you drive into the state on the way to the center of all the activity, Manchester, you’re greeted by large tracts of open land and wilderness, biting winds, and snow. Less political hub, more winter wonderland, despite the occasional shop or restaurant with a window sign declaring their political affiliation.

Being the first primary didn’t always require risking frostbite. New Hampshire state law stipulates that the primary take place on the second Tuesday in March. But it’s been pushed earlier and earlier to resist the efforts of other states that shifted their primaries earlier to acquire some of the action and influence that being first provides. Is it time for New Hampshire to give it up?

For New Hampshire residents, primary season in New Hampshire, like the leap year, is a once-in-four-years celebration that isn’t unlike the Olympics. For many of the residents here, it’s the biggest thing that happens and they’re incredibly proud of it. “No one even really knows where New Hampshire is on the map. So I don’t blame them for wanting to hold on to what makes people think of the state,” says Ethan Manning, who moved to Manchester from Massachusetts three years ago and is voting in his first New Hampshire primary. But his brother, Jonah, thinks differently. “I certainly don’t see any rational reason to have it here.”

Temperatures during the weekend before the Feb. 11 primary were defiantly sub-zero in the main cities/towns/hamlets/what-have-you that saw some buzz. A pro-life campaigner, who wanted to be known as Kirsch,  battled the cold like many others outside St. Anselm College. As signs were blown away and hands started to go numb, she contemplated whether shifting the New Hampshire primaries back a couple weeks wouldn’t be such a bad idea. “It definitely is freezing,” she said, trying to keep her coat from flying off.

A Warren campaign sign lies in the snow outside of St Anselm’s college in Manchester, New Hampshire ,the site of Friday night’s Democratic Debate. Photo by Ahad Sanwari.

Martin Flink, a journalist who came to Manchester from Denmark, spent the 2016 primaries in sunny (well, sunnier) Florida. He argues that there are more strikes against New Hampshire than just snow. “If they could find states that were more representative of the whole country,” he says, “I think it would be a better direction for the candidates.” New Hampshire is one of the least ethnically diverse states in the country, with 92% of the population consisting of non-Hispanic whites (according to the 2010 census).

What is it that keeps people coming back? Is it Elizabeth Warren’s campaigning playlist that encompasses everything from Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” to Aretha Franklin’s “Respect”? Is it the prospect of seeing the Yang gang parading around with their giant 1000 dollar bill with Andrew Yang’s face on it? Is it the incredibly catchy “Boot, Edge, Edge” chant? Is it the the joy of seeing Tom Steyer at the McIntyre Shaheen dinner talk about how many times he wants to “kick Trump’s ass” (a count was kept: six times)?

It just might be the willingness of the candidates themselves to bear the cold (how Elizabeth Warren survives in that minimal coat is a mystery) that drives the masses. Warren, in particular, lured out quite a few canvassers at an event Saturday (?) at Manchester Community College. This included Isaac Norwich, who drove up from Boston with a group of other Boston Warren supporters. “It’s part of the process,” he says. “We brought gloves, we brought hand warmers, we brought hats — what we gotta do to reach other people and get the message out.”

A town hall event at Rochester brought together over 1100 people in support of Senator Sanders. “I feel like if you’re inspired enough by your candidate,” says Jonah, “the weather is a non-factor.”

Access might be the most important factor in the prevalence of New Hampshire as a primary starting point. “I think it’s hard to find any other place to get as close to the candidates with all the town halls and debates going on,” says Flink. “Access is very good in order to keep an open democracy, be transparent and letting the voters get to know you and ask the questions they want to.”

It doesn’t seem like New Hampshire’s status as numero uno might be changing anytime soon, no matter how hard the other states try. As long as it doesn’t end up like the 2020 Iowa caucus, America can take pleasure in knowing that maybe, just maybe, New Hampshire might yield their next president.

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Former Vice President Joe Biden’s history of nuzzling, long hugs, forehead kisses, and lingering shoulder touches has some younger Democratic voters, especially women, turned off.

“I don’t think anyone in our generation is pumped up about a Joe Biden prospect,” said Sarah Zimmerman, 25. “And I kind of think that our generation is going to be pushing this entire election, so that’s kind of what matters.”

On March 29th, former Nevada politician Lucy Flores wrote a post for The Cut outlining an uncomfortable encounter she had with then Vice President Joe Biden in 2014. In the article she describes him putting his hands on her shoulders, leaning in and breathing deeply into her hair. Since then, more photos and experiences from other women have come to the forefront of the news.

For these millennials, Biden’s affectionate ways sparks a larger conversation about boundaries and sexual harassment.

“I’m actually really glad that people are starting to talk about it, because pretty much, last year, or awhile ago, I saw a compilation of how he always did weird stuff like that, but no one really talked about it,” said Monmouth University student Nick Coscarelli.

Flores was clear in her initial post that she did not feel assaulted, but the intrusion on her personal space had felt professionally disrespectful and inappropriate.

“She had not read it in a sexual way, but it still was very clearly ‘gendered creepiness,’ that violated her personal boundaries,” said Meredith Bradfield, a graduate student at Simmons University.

While Flores and other women have been clear, the public reaction and dialogue surrounding the initial post followed a familiar paradigm.

“I don’t like the way that it’s formulated,” said Zimmerman. “Because of #MeToo and because of the pattern we’ve created, we’ve kind of set it up so that women have to come out with ‘accusations’ and then other women have to follow. But it’s just kind of strange in this case because we all know that Joe Biden does that, we can literally see hundreds of videos of him doing exactly what she says.”

Flores’ experience triggered an onslaught of harsh criticism of the former Vice President, as people dug into videos and images of his over 40 years of public life. But, a more nuanced conversation about personal limits has grown from the knee-jerk reaction that initially concerned publicist Samantha Simon.

“A part of me, because I work in entertainment, a part of me was so nervous that this would go the route of Aziz Ansari,” Simon said. “Where he did something really inappropriate, but in the grand scheme of things, I don’t know if it was as inappropriate as what other people have done, for example Harvey Weinstein, and he just got ridiculed in a way that I think was kind of unfair.”

Biden, the front runner in the Democratic Primary, despite not having he is running president, responded with a written statement last Sunday and followed up with a video released on Twitter.

Social norms are changing. I understand that, and I’ve heard what these women are saying. Politics to me has always been about making connections, but I will be more mindful about respecting personal space in the future. That’s my responsibility and I will meet it. pic.twitter.com/Ya2mf5ODts

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 3, 2019

Coscarelli and others, including #MeToo founder Taran Burke, said Biden misunderstood the criticism and is squandering an opportunity to listen and learn.

“I think he is very out of touch with where we are moving and he’s also just very insensitive to what he thinks is the problem,” Coscarelli said. “I guess he’s taking it as, I guess, all of a sudden people have changed what is okay and what is not. But that’s not the case. We have always known where the boundaries should be drawn, but people have always overstepped them and there has been no consequence to it.”

At the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers conference last Friday, Biden joked about the controversy. Multiple times during the event he flippantly remarked that he had “permission” to touch those he was hugging. Despite also apologizing to the assembled crowd, even some older Democrats, were underwhelmed by his handling of the situation.

“I think that he should have owned up to it and apologized right away,” said D’Anne Avotins, who is a parent of a young millennial. “He was silent for too long and then he made that joke on stage the other day, which I don’t think was considerate to the people who came forward.”

Coscarelli doesn’t feel Biden understands that his actions were wrong.

Many feel that this is another example of Biden being dismissive of a woman’s experience.

“It’s also all hanging under a lot of other things like the Anita Hill hearings, that he just really needs to answer for,” said Zimmerman. “It’s just like one of many things.”

“I am personally very nervous about the fact that he’s been leading in the polls, in part because of something I think people haven’t really been talking about enough,” said Bradfield. “The fact that during the Anita Hill trial, with the nomination of Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, I seem to remember Biden had not been supportive of Anita Hill at that time. Just kind of thinking about that, in conversation with the lack of respect around boundaries– it might not be at a Kavanaugh level, but it’s still icky.”

With so many questions to answer, without having even announced an exploratory committee, some are looking to other options in the democratic primary.

“There are so many other people on the democratic ticket that come from diverse backgrounds– that are women and that are people of color– and I am just having a hard time being excited about another old white guy on the ticket,” Bradfield said.

While Biden’s conduct has been deemed by many to be distasteful and enthusiasm is not on his side, it doesn’t necessarily mean he cannot run for president. Avotins thinks he could easily backtrack and apologize in a more sensitive way.

If Biden does decide to run for president, he would be squaring up against Trump, who has a long history of sexual harassment allegations.

“You know what’s weird is that we have a president now who obviously said some incredibly inappropriate things right before he got elected, so in my mind maybe it’s not as big of a deal,” Simon said. “That being said, he’s catering to an audience that values things differently. So it sort of seems like it is going to be a way bigger road block than it ever would have been for Trump.”

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Hillary Clinton is said to be contemplating another presidential run in 2020. But young women, who were a majority of her voters in 2016, are not sure if they will support her.

“She will lose again,” said Mia Flanagan, 18, who said that she had seen the news about the potential run on Twitter and had hoped it was fake. “She will obviously lose again.”  

If Clinton does decide to run, 2020 would be her third presidential bid. In 2008, she campaigned against Barack Obama, losing in the primaries. In 2016, she lost in the general election to Donald Trump, despite winning the popular vote, following a campaign marred by scandals.

Many of the women spoken to said that they thought a stronger Democratic candidate would be needed in the 2020 election. It is expected that President Donald Trump will run for re-election in 2020, especially following a pledge of support from the Republican National Committee. As of now, there are no other obvious Republican candidates.

“It’ll be the same chase [as 2016] again, where we had decent candidates up against Hillary,” said Rosa Miranda, 21. “She came through – and she was not my favorite – and she came up against Trump, and Trump got her. I’d rather her not run.”

There was also a concern that Clinton would have enough support to win the primary, against candidates such as Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, and Elizabeth Warren, but that she would again lose in the general election.

“I think if Hillary runs again, none of those other Democrats are going to be able to stand a chance,” said Miranda. “I don’t know why she keeps winning [primaries], but she’s going to, and then the Republicans are going to win again.”

Flanagan thought the opposite – that Clinton would lose in the primaries, leaving the field wide-open for another Democratic candidate.

“She’ll lose again,” said Flanagan. “Judging by her opponents in the first election and the way that all went down, it doesn’t look good for her, especially with everyone else running.”

Despite her reservations about Clinton, Flanagan was also hesitant to support any other Democratic candidate, as was her friend Maddie Janz, 18.

“I’ve heard some weird stuff about [Kamala Harris],” said Flanagan. “When she first came out about her candidacy I was like ‘Oh, this is great.’ And then I was like ‘Oh, her policies…’” Harris has caught some pushback for her record as a prosecutor, with some saying that her history doesn’t match her persona as a progressive candidate.

Janz hoped that others, including Bernie Sanders and former Vice President Joe Biden, who are expected to announce 2020 campaigns, wouldn’t run.

“That’s not happening,” said Janz, about the possibility of Biden running. “I won’t allow it. Please don’t.”

While they were hesitant about the other candidates, both Flanagan and Janz said that they would rather support them than Clinton.

“I just can’t believe that she’s willing to put herself through that again,” said Janz. “I don’t think she should run.”

Ramirez agreed. “I would rather her not run.”

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