Today the Strafford County Republican Committee held a meet and greet featuring Senator Ted Cruz. It was Chili and Chat with a chance to meet Cruz. They originally expected about but so many people showed up they had to move to a much larger room. There were around 200 people for what turned out to be a standing-room-only event.
To put this into a little perspective, when Hillary Clinton came to an event during the height of election season after not being in New Hampshire for several years that included Shaheen and Hassan, only around 500 people showed up. This was touted as a huge event by the New Hampshire Democrats to get out the vote. The Strafford County Republican Committee put on a small local event and had more than three times as many people show up as planned.
The key thing to note is there were not only Republicans in attendance. There were also many Independents. There were people of all ages including families with young children. Granite Grok was recording live and had a brief interview with Cruz after his speech and questions. Cruzs team had to move him along several times due to time constraints because so many kept wanting to talk with him.
Cruz was also pressed about declaring his run for President but he wont do it
yet. An audience member even presented him with a blank check to use for his campaign (even stating he had his wifes permission to laughs from the crowd). It was a candid moment and unexpected. Cruz handed the check back and commented that you wont see many politicians do that.
Granite Staters are politically weary. Not only were they lied to about the supposed recovery by Democrats but they were lied to over and over again about the benefits of Obamacare and keeping their doctors, hospitals and insurance plans. Its not surprising to see so many in attendance to listen to someone they may not have heard before. The majority of voters in New Hampshire live in the state because it is the Live Free or Die state and so far Cruz seems to amplify that motto. Many are sick of the same re-hash of politicians and are looking for new fresh faces that actually hold the same values and are willing to stand by them.