AP: “Presidential race hits blazing pace”- Dennehy: “It’s full steam ahead. You try to squeeze out as much as you can from a 24 hour day.”
On Tuesday, August 14, the AP, in a general-interest piece on Campaign 2008 in general, twice quoted Senator McCain’s New-Hampshire-based political director, Mike Dennehy, on the greatly accelerated tempo of the nomination process. Here are excerpts:
CONCORD, N.H. –
Late-night conference calls, Sundays spent in the office and a diet served in takeout bags are the hallmarks of the final weeks of a presidential primary campaign.
They’re already the norm in the early voting states of New Hampshire and Iowa - and it’s only August.
“We think it’s nonstop now?” says Mike Dennehy, Sen. John McCain’s national political director. “Once we hit Labor Day, it’s going to be blazing fast.”…
Unchanged, however, is the need for candidates to spend large amounts of time in early states, where voters typically think long and hard before choosing…
“They’re open to listening to the candidates, but the residents here do an awful lot of digesting of information rather than being overwhelmed by the candidates being here,” he said…
The same appears to be true in New Hampshire, if the latest University of New Hampshire poll for CNN and WMUR-TV is any guide. The poll found that 64 percent of Democrats still haven’t made up their minds, and 71 percent of Republicans said the same.
“I know you people in New Hampshire like to shop,” Obama said during a recent stop. “You like to take us for a test drive, like to kick our tires.”
Those tires, meanwhile, are going to keep spinning at full speed.
“I don’t think it’s possible (to slow),” Dennehy said. “It’s full steam ahead. You try to squeeze out as much as you can from a 24-hour day.”
You can read the full text of the original article here. You can contact The Tower at tower@campaignia.org.