Acting Ornery in New Hampshire

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How Hart soared, Mondale sank and everyone was stunned

In perfect hindsight, perhaps it should not have come as such a shock. New Hampshire is so small (pop. 920,610) that an underfinanced but energetic candidate can still reach most voters. Only 15% of the state's work force belong to unions; fewer than 1% of the residents are black. Independents can vote in the primary. Voters almost pride themselves on knocking off front runners. In short, New Hampshire could hardly be better suited for an anti-Establishment underdog, or worse for an overwhelming favorite with the backing of party bosses, Big Labor and minorities.

Yet Walter Mondale's aura of invincibility was such that almost everybody forgot about New Hampshire's quirky politics and unusual demographics. The polls contained no hint of an upset in the making: only a week before the primary, an ABC-Washington Post poll showed Mondale first with 37% and Gary Hart third (behind John Glenn) with 13%. The Mondale campaign serenely cruised about the state in long motorcades, with scores of reporters and television crews in tow. Hart bounced around in vans, with few reporters and fewer TV cameras in sight. As he wandered into coffee shops, Hart seemed shy and diffident. "Hello, I'm running for President," he awkwardly ventured to one middle-aged woman. "Of the United States?" she asked incredulously.

Then came Iowa. Suddenly the voters of New Hampshire saw a way to keep the campaign from ending before it had barely begun. "Hart's showing in Iowa helped me make up my mind," said Lawyer Joseph Dubiansky of Deerfield. "A person wants to think his vote counts for something."

The press, which until Iowa had largely ignored Hart while focusing on Mondale and Glenn, immediately endowed the Coloradan's campaign with that most precious of campaign commodities, free media. Herds of reporters began trailing after Hart. The exposure was almost entirely uncritical, with Hart emerging as a beacon of new ideas. Glenn, meanwhile, had been banging away at Mondale, depicting him as the tool of special interests. Said a Glenn aide: "We almost played blocking back for Hart on this." While Glenn tried to bowl Mondale aside, Hart slipped cleanly through the hole.

Though Hart's campaign was more than $300,000 in debt, the Iowa results enabled him to borrow $50,000 to keep his effective high-tech ads on the air (see box). Already in place was a corps of eager volunteers, 2,000 of whom had canvassed 60,000 households in New Hampshire between October and February. The Hart organization was regarded by political pros as second only to Mondale's. Said Hart Campaign Manager Oliver Henkel:

"Iowa gave us the thrust we needed to take advantage of the marvelous organization we had in the state."