Nothing Beats a Meet and Greet

So much of the public's perception of a candidate is shaped by commentary fed to us by the media. Television stations such as CBS or CNN attempt to supply us with the information we need to know about an individual, but often times what the candidate would want you to know about them would be entirely different. Since New Hampshire is only a quick drive from Massachusetts, I decided to make a quick trip over the border this past February to meet Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee.

Huckabee spoke at the Merrimack Grill for a half hour and worked the crowd of around 60 for close to an hour as well. Student representatives spoke with Mike about his commitment to maintaining New Hampshire's first in the nation status, a woman slapped a "I'm a Health Care Voter" sticker on Huckabee's jacket, and I spoke with the Governor for around five minutes about everything from rock and roll to the media's impact on politics.

Instead of having FOX or MSNBC tell me that the Club For Growth gave Huckabee a 0% approval rating, I was glad to have the opportunity to erase my memory of a candidate clean and start to build up my knowledge of him or her based on information I picked up in person.

While candidates seem to only be visiting a handful of states these days, if anyone from Hilary to Brownback happens to stop by a town near you, make sure to give them a look and a listen. It is surprising how refreshing some politicians are when you run into them outside of the spotlight...