Covering the New Hampshire primary for This Week in Northern California, I had hardly checked into Concord's Residence Inn when I saw Newt Gingrich’s wife Callista pass by in the hallway. There was no mistaking her blonde hair-do...
The next morning Gingrich was sharing the Inn’s free breakfast and chatting up guests as he prepared to head out for the campaign trail. As has been oft-reported, New Hampshire provides close contact with all hopefuls who choose to run in this first-in-the nation presidential primary.
The state’s population is nearly 94% white. There are so few black people here, reporters looking for a little diversity often stopped me and asked for an interview. "I’m one of you," I kept telling them.
Forty percent of the state’s voters are registered as “undeclared” or independents. Republicans campaigning here got the longest and loudest applause when they voiced conservative views on the right to bear arms, support for the repeal of President Obama’s health care overhaul, and opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage.
So it’s not exactly the place you would expect to find a guy like Fred Karger out on the stump. Karger, a California Republican, has been proudly proclaiming he's the first gay man to run for president.