Two things went down well at the Newfields US presidential primary election-cum-bake sale fundraiser for the local library: Bernie Sanders and the chocolate espresso cookies.
“I voted for Bernie,” said Taylor Cohen (28), who is in charge of the bake sale, selling $1 muffins, brownies and a chocolate and peanut mix called Muddy Buddies. “I like his policies. He brings a great energy.”
“I voted for Bernie Sanders because he has been consistent for a really long time and I really believe in his message about social justice equality,” said Jacqui Silvani (34), a teacher leaving the voting centre.
This small hamlet has a good cross-section of conservatives, liberals and New Hampshire’s famously fickle Independent voters. It is also represents the political establishment so shaken in Tuesday’s primary.
Maggie Hassan, the state's Democratic governor who stumped hard for Hillary Clinton, voted here early on Tuesday morning.
Local resident Chris Sununu, a member of the prominent New Hampshire Republican establishment dynasty, appeared after 8am to vote. He is a candidate to replace Hassan as governor this year.
“I voted pretty well. I marked the box,” he said with a smile, refusing to disclose who he picked.
Rubio supporter
His brother
Michael Sununu
, is not so guarded. He is standing on a path to Newfields Town Hall voting centre holding a
Marco Rubio
“A New American Century” sign.
Another brother, former US senator John Sununu, was last year credited by Republican John Kasich, the surprise second-place finisher in New Hampshire, with convincing him to consider a presidential bid.
Their father, also John, a former governor and White House chief of staff to George HW Bush, refused to divulge how he was voting.
The differences in the Sununu family reflects the wider tug-of-war among Republicans who are unable to consolidate behind a single candidate to challenge abrasive interloper Donald Trump.
Almost two-thirds of Republican voters in New Hampshire picked someone other than Trump but the crowded field of candidates and a record turnout of frustrated voters handed the billionaire a huge win.
“Everyone has one bad debate,” said Michael Sununu° of Rubio’s flustered debate on Saturday that hurt him in New Hampshire.
Thirty minutes away in Manchester, Rubio’s supporters like that he took responsibility for his canned lines in the debate.
“That was noble of him to do that but I didn’t feel like he needed to apologise,” said Noella Langlois (74), from Hillsborough, New Hampshire. “I know that there will be mistakes along the way.”
Trump fever
Michael Skocay (29), a teaching assistant from
Massachusetts
, believes Rubio can recover in a “long election” and win moderate states in March: “I hope by then the Trump fever will start to wane.”
“It is going to take longer to separate himself from the pack,” said Brandon Castle (21), from Albany in New York, of his guy, Rubio.
“At the end of the day, I think the voters are going to rally around him because he is clearly the most electable; he can take on Trump.”
