Campaigner at Work

Candidate John Kennedy emerged from the tidy city hall in Nashua, N.H. and walked down Main Street, smiling, shaking hands, waving as he went. A crowd of 100 chattering well-wishers flowed after him, and at his side. Royal Dion, a dry cleaner and local politico, kept up a round of introductions. The weather was snowy and cold; the crowd was in fine humor and distinctly pro-Kennedy. Passing Sardy's restaurant, Senator Kennedy paused to wave at the patrons through the steamy window, went on to accept the best wishes of a contingent of grocers at the California Fruit Market. In the doorway of the Sherwin-Williams paint company, he unexpectedly came upon a pretty woman in a red coat and black fur cap --his wife Jacqueline, who had just arrived from Washington to join in the opening day of his New Hampshire campaign.

Throughout the day, Jack and Jackie Kennedy went through their rounds without losing an ounce of bounce. When a friendly woman stopped him with the information that she was a Republican, Jack grinned, replied : "I forgot my Nixon button." In Manchester, a motorcade of students from St. Anselm's College gave him an earsplitting welcome from 35 automobile horns, then mobbed him with such enthusiasm that Jack had to climb into an open convertible in order to be seen. Afterward, the college kids dragged out a reluctant donkey (rented for $20 by the efficient Kennedy organization), then followed Kennedy into a supermarket, waving homemade college-humor signs (PUT JACK IN THE WHITE SHACK, PUT A NEW JOHN IN THE WHITE HOUSE). Later, during a brief stopover in a hotel, Kennedy cheerfully hopped out of his bathtub, dressed hurriedly to make a ten-minute TV appearance.

To many a practiced politician, Jack Kennedy's punishing grind seemed absurd : running virtually unopposed, he could, if he wanted to, claim New Hampshire's eleven delegate votes with the merest amenities -- a speech or two, a TV appearance, and many thanks. But Kennedy was doing it the hard, handshaking way for two reasons: 1) he hopes to get a bigger primary vote than Estes Kefauver got in 1956 (when 30% of the state's Democrats turned out) and thus convince his party's skeptics of his popular support; 2) his own example was an opportunity to shame his reluctant fellow candidates, e.g., Stuart Symington, Lyndon Johnson, who are staying out of the primaries.

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