From Atkinson, New Hampshire -
Mother Nature intervened on Friday in the New Hampshire Primary, as the snow forced Donald Trump to cancel his only event of the day and scrambled the travel plans for many making their way around the Granite State.
But the election work didn't stop, with only a few days left until Tuesday's first-in-the-nation primary.
As I left my hotel around 9 am, the snow had started to accumulate on the road, and only came down harder as I edged my way to a John Kasich event, as police had already closed down various roads along my route.
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Credit: Jamie Dupree
"We're canceling the third event and going sledding," joked some of the Kasich guys who were breaking down the equipment; they had to then take it to the last event of the day, which would be the 100th town hall for Kasich.
"You better come," one of the Kasich workers said to the remaining reporters, "we had cake for the 50th and 75th."
"And it was good cake too," he said with a smile.
Here was our temporary work spot:
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Credit: Jamie Dupree
I finished up my stories, as did my colleague Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, who was again on the road with me - we decided since it was snowing so hard, there was no reason to leave.
Luckily, the lunch place upstairs was open.
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Credit: Jamie Dupree
"We can eat dessert!" Bluestein said excitedly.
A few tables over, two wire service photographers were comparing notes on the rest of their day. "I've already done the web gallery," one said with a sigh, rattling off what work he still had to do, as both decided to leave, despite the bad weather.
Meanwhile, the snow was still falling.
"Be careful out there driving, guys," the girl behind the bar said to the photographers, with her distinct New Hampshire accent filling the room.
Then the lights flickered. And the TV's went off.
A few minutes later, the power went on and off again.
Luckily it stayed on.
Finally, I decided it was time to clean off my car, and get ready to head down the road to a Marco Rubio event in Derry.
The roads were a little tricky to say the least.
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Credit: Jamie Dupree
But soon enough, I made it to the main road and there was actual pavement. And in a few minutes, I was in Derry for Rubio.
As I walked into the gymnasium and started looking for my audio hookup, a woman suddenly called out to me, but I had no idea who it was.
"I follow you on Twitter!" said Lauren Selsky, who works as one of the network TV "embeds" following the candidates. "I know what you look like!"
I also ran into a couple of old friends from the Voice of America, Jim Malone (in the middle) and Adam Greenbaum.
I went to high school with Adam, while Jim has been a longtime friend and colleague on Capitol Hill and the campaign trail - Jim and I have had some fun times over the years on the trail in New Hampshire.
Credit: Jamie Dupree
Credit: Jamie Dupree
After the Rubio event ended, I did my usual work, recording my stories, editing them on my laptop and sending them out to my stations.
I even took a few minutes to video chat with my kids, then I started packing up.
And then I realized that Rubio was still in the gym, still shaking hands and meeting voters.
As I headed out the door, I overheard a guy asking for a ride; he had made it out to Derry via Uber, but now wasn't having luck getting back to Manchester.
I was more than happy to lend a hand.
John Kehoe is the US Correspondent for the Australian Financial Review, "The Wall Street Journal of Australia," was how he described it to me as we boomed down I-93 in the dark of night.
I told Kehoe how one of my first jobs in the business was doing farm news reports for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation - almost 30 years ago.
As we navigated the back way to Elm Street in Manchester, I tried to give Kehoe the lay of the land - he wanted to go to where other reporters would be gathered, so I took him to the Radisson in Manchester, sort of the center of the political universe in New Hampshire.
As I dropped him off at the front door, I assured him that there would be some well known journalists hanging out - and there, through the revolving door, was Chris Matthews of MSNBC.
I told Kehoe to have a beer for me, remembering my younger days here in New Hampshire, when I could work 20 hours and drink the other four. I headed back to my hotel.
It was another fun day on the campaign trail.
About the Author
