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At the national party conventions, state delegation breakfasts are in part organizational events, where weary state party staffers hand out credentials and preview the day’s schedule, not unlike camp counselors rallying their adult wards for the day. But the gatherings also offer revealing glimpses at political up-and-comers, who spend their early-morning hours with the party faithful they will need to secure higher office down the line. Their remarks are typically brief — sometimes funny, sometimes heartfelt, always laudatory of the state they’re addressing. For strong speakers, they end in standing ovations.
Savvy politicos make the rounds, moving with discipline from hotel ballroom to hotel ballroom and often hitting multiple breakfasts per day. Not all 50 are created equal: The A-list speakers pay particular attention to battlegrounds, influential delegations, and, of course, the early nominating states that could decide their fates should they pursue the presidency.
That elite status was clear this week for humble New Hampshire, with a breakfast speaker line up that included many of the party’s buzziest names. Vermont’s breakfast may have had maple syrup shots, but its New England neighbor heard from a who’s who of the party’s up and comers, including some who have run for president before or are looking to in the future, and some who were under consideration to serve as Harris’s running mate. Delegates enjoyed bacon, eggs, and potatoes as speakers addressed them from a podium flanked by inflatable coconut trees, an apparent tribute to the now-famous Harris line.
Not every state got the same attention. Shapiro was on the schedule to speak to a Massachusetts breakfast on Thursday, but did not appear. He did not miss his appointment with the New Hampshire delegation Wednesday morning, though.
The status of the state’s first-in-the-nation primary is uncertain on the Democratic side, after the national party pushed it later in the nominating calendar and New Hampshire rebelled. But the early contest, and the outsize power it gives this state of just 1.4 million people, was nonetheless at the center of the conversation.
“Speaking of New Hampshire, the primary is back!” laughed retiring New Hampshire Congresswoman Annie Kuster as she introduced Booker to the delegation on Thursday morning.
“I’m like, it’s home,” Booker said as he took the podium to applause. “I just love your state. I spent so much time there — I don’t know if you all know this, I ran for president in 2020.”
Ten minutes later, the crowd was on its feet applauding him, and state party chair Raymond Buckley had to chastise attendees for lining up for selfies and delaying the rest of the stacked program.
“You know, Cory Booker’s been to New Hampshire about 455 times, and he’s coming back,” Buckley chided.
For some of the state’s youngest delegates, access to the party’s future stars has been a highlight of the convention.
“Who’s gonna be there in ‘28, and who’s gonna be there in ‘32, and how many meals have we already had with them?” laughed Samay Sahu, a 20-year-old Dartmouth student. “Have I met them already? Have we taken a selfie?”
New Hampshire is “small” but “mighty,” Sahu added, crediting the primary for its political power.
Khanna, the California congressman seen as having presidential ambitions, attended more than a dozen state delegation breakfasts this week. A prominent poster near the New Hampshire delegation’s breakfast buffet thanked its sponsors; Khanna was at the top, and he was one of the few sponsors who did not live in the Granite State.
“I have gone to Michigan, to Pennsylvania, Wisconsin,” Khanna told reporters on Tuesday, naming a slate of battleground states as he spoke about the importance of introducing delegates to “the next generation of talent.”
“It’s about getting the right economic message for the party and figuring out what the right message is to win in the fall and going and talking to delegates, talking to people across the breakfasts, helps you figure that out,” he said.
And does the ambitious congressman have particular affection for the first-in-the-nation primary state?
“I love New Hampshire because it’s a state that values ideas. It’s a state that values retail politics,” Khanna said. He added that he has long been a supporter of New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary, “and I’m pretty confident that it’ll have a big role going forward.”
Paying extra attention to states such as New Hampshire is nothing new in national politics. It was a similar scene at the Republican National Convention last month in Milwaukee, where onetime presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy sponsored a breakfast for the state, his smiling face featured on posters outside the room. The state’s Republican delegation heard from Ramaswamy and Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Bill Shaheen, husband of Senator Jeanne Shaheen and DNC committeeman for New Hampshire, said in an interview after breakfast Thursday that his state “has a tradition of being involved and being active, and I think we can help give these people who want to run for president guidance.”
Sahu, who introduced Boston Mayor Michelle Wu when she addressed the New Hampshire breakfast earlier this week, said he was “bawling” when they heard from Buttigieg, whom he reveres.
“The thing is, even though we’re seeing them, and I get to be, what, two feet away from Wes Moore, it’s almost not that big of a deal,” Sahu added. “Because he’s gonna come back to New Hampshire.”
Emma Platoff can be reached at emma.platoff@globe.com. Follow her @emmaplatoff.
Local News
A new photo has been released of the victim in a nearly 30-year-long unsolved murder case, in the hope of finding any new potential witnesses in the cold case, New Hampshire officials said.
“Our family wants to know what happened, who did this and why,” the family of Rosalie Miller said in a press release. “We miss her and want to give her peace.”
Miller was last seen on December 8, 1996 at her apartment in Manchester. At the time of her disappearance, Miller had plans on meeting friends in the Auburn, New Hampshire area, officials said.
Her body was found on January 20, 1997 in a partially wooded spot on a residential lot along the Londonderry Turnpike in Auburn, officials said in the release.
The autopsy report declared Miller’s death a homicide by asphyxiation due to ligature strangulation, N.H. officials wrote.
As part of a new effort to garner public help with the case, an “uncirculated” photo of Miller, 36, is being distributed “in hopes it may jog the memory of someone who saw or spoke with her in the winter of 1996,” Attorney General John M. Formella and New Hampshire State Police Colonel Mark B. Hall announced on behalf of the New Hampshire Cold Case Unit in a joint press release.
Investigators are especially hoping to talk to anyone who was in contact with Miller in December of 1996 or anyone “who may have seen her in the vicinity of the Londonderry Turnpike in Auburn during that time,” officials said in the release.
“We are releasing this new photograph today because we believe someone out there has information, perhaps a detail they thought was insignificant at the time, that could be the key to solving this case and bringing justice for Rosalie and those who loved her,” Senior Assistant Attorney General R. Christopher Knowles, New Hampshire Cold Case Unit Chief said in the release.
The New Hampshire Cold Case Unit encourages anyone with any amount of information to contact the group at [email protected] or (603) 271-2663.
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A Massachusetts man was flown to the hospital after he was struck by a car when he stepped out of his vehicle in the breakdown lane of Interstate 93 in Londonderry, New Hampshire, on Saturday morning.
State police say 40-year-old Felix Matos Medina, of Lawrence, had stopped on the right side of I-93 south at Exit 5 just before 11 a.m. to investigate a possible mechanical issue. He was struck shortly after he stepped out of his vehicle by a Chevrolet Malibu and sustained serious injuries.
Medina was taken by medical helicopter to Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, Mass., police said. There was no immediate update on his condition.
I-93 southbound was closed near Exit 5 for about 30 minutes to facilitate the medical helicopter’s landing. One lane remained closed for several hours to accommodate crash reconstruction and on-scene investigation.
The driver who struck Medina, identified as David Jodoin, stopped at the scene and is cooperating with investigators, according to police. No charges have been filed at this time, but all aspects of the crash remain under investigation at this time.
Anyone with information that may assist the investigation is asked to contact Trooper Evan Puopolo at 603-451-9784.
State police are also reminding all New Hampshire drivers that Sherrill’s Law requires motorists approaching a stopped vehicle displaying warning signals to slow down and give plenty of space. Drivers are also required to move out of partially or wholly blocked lanes when it’s safe to do so.
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