Yale on the Trail

By Thomas Kaplan
DENVER, 12:09 a.m. — Strolling down a sidewalk downtown Tuesday, I suddenly noticed two television cameramen cross the street ahead of me and, cameras in hand, break into a full sprint in my direction.
This is odd, I thought.  I am usually famous enough to only attract one cameraman, not two.
So I looked around.  […]

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Outside the Pepsi Center this afternoon: Free vanilla ice cream (your choice of one scoop or two), with whipped cream and red, white and blue sprinkles, all courtesy of Wolf Blitzer and company.

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DENVER, 2:20 a.m. — On stage before a throng of sweaty youth, Representative Kendrick Meek of Florida pulled a microphone close to his mouth. He had already emphasized the importance of registering to vote. Now, he said, it was time to welcome “the Fall Out Boys.”
Close enough. The hundreds that filled the Ellie Caulkins Opera […]

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By Thomas Kaplan
DENVER, 6:05 p.m. — Yesterday was a failure in my ongoing quest to chronicle the pseudo-celebrities who have flocked to the Democratic National Convention. But today, there have been a few promising developments.
First, walking around the club level of the Pepsi Center is essentially like shooting fish in a barrel when it comes […]

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By Thomas Kaplan
DENVER, 2:23 p.m. — This winter, the musical artist known as will.i.am was feeling blue. His single album had flopped. He had a falling out with his manager.
Then came the song that changed it all.
Six months after the Black Eyed Peas frontman gave the campaign of Senator Barack Obama a shot in the […]

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NASHUA, N.H., 1:30 p.m. — Vermin Supreme has been described by some as “obnoxious.” But, he told the News in an interview last night, this year, he had a warm reception here in New Hampshire.Speaking after John McCain’s victory speech last night, where he ascended the stage after the 71-year-old candidate disappeared, he invited the […]

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BOSTON, Mass., 12:49 a.m. — 1) Did primaries always get so much media attention? Granted, I was a clueless high school senior last time ’round, but this amount of scrutiny just seems insane. Yesterday I watched Access Hollywood’s sultry Maria Menounos ask Hillary Clinton how she would spend a free Saturday night. Hillary’s response […]

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HART’S LOCATION, N.H., 4:30 a.m. — It is the land of moose crossings and low, clinging fog; a place, in the immortal opening words of Twin Peaks, where “an orange light still means slow down.”
But Hart’s Location, N.H. has attracted the attention of the nation every four years since 1996 when it restarted the tradition […]

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SEABROOK, N.H., 2:28 am. — We’re down to one day before the polls open, and for the candidates, it is game time. A few musings from the trail today:

Chris Dodd’s former New Hampshire chair, Joe Keefe, has endorsed Senator Barack Obama, and he was the first speaker at the Obama rally in Manchester on […]

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SEABROOK, N.H., 3:41 p.m. — The campaign trail is hopping today. A few items to consider:

Senator Barack Obama’s even this morning was scheduled for 9 a.m.; it began at 10:21 a.m. Are rallies supposed to begin fashionably late, or something?
Third pseudo-celebrity sighting of the trip: MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, standing in the […]

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ROUTE 101, N.H., 8:32 a.m. — In the last season of The West Wing, Republican presidential candidate Arnold Vinick saw his campaign crash and burn after a nuclear power plant he pushed to build in his home state came close to a meltdown. His opponent, Democratic Congressman Matthew Santos, soared in the polls as […]

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MANCHESTER, N.H., 6:45 p.m. — Welcome to the Carr Center at Saint Anselm College, which tonight is the headquarters for what seems to be all of the media in the United States.
In a building that looks something like the Lanman Center at Paine Whitney Gymnasium, hundreds upon hundreds of journalists are seated facing two massive […]

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CENTERVILLE, Iowa, 7:58 a.m. - We finally saw one of the candidates this morning. But it wasn’t in any large auditorium; it was in the intimate confines of an Iowan family home.

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ROUTE I-80, Iowa - I never thought I would find myself here, but lo and behold, I am now between Davenport (definitely not the college) and Iowa City, heading west on I-80. It’s cold here in Iowa… and flat—and empty.

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DES MOINES, Iowa, 7:15 PM - The floor of Senator Barack Obama’s Des Moines Iowa headquarters is soaked. Two canvassers walk in wearing thick-soled North Face hiking boots and you can see drops of water press out of the carpet around the edges of each shoe. Each volunteer that has come in out of the […]

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