Today was our last day in New Hampshire and the last day of our field program. We woke up early and left our hotel to go see former Vice President Joe Biden in Claremont, New Hampshire. We got to the event over an hour before it started but we still had to wait in line in the cold for about 45 minutes. However, that gave us time to chat with other attendees and meet people working on the campaign staff. When we finally got into the venue, we were escorted to our seats which happened, mostly, to be directly behind where Biden would be speaking. The room was full of New Hampshire residents eager to hear Biden speak as well as various media representatives. A few of us were identified by a local Boston radio station and were interviewed for their project!
After Biden finished speaking, a few of us were able to talk to him early on. He huddled us up and told us that we, as young college students, were the future of the nation, and stressed to us the importance of staying engaged in politics. We were able to get a selfie with Biden – one of the few actual selfies we got with a candidate on this trip!
Afterwards, we had lunch in Claremont and met up with Gail Russell Chaddock, a former Christian Science Monitor reporter who focused a lot of her coverage on Congress. While we were enjoying lunch, we found that a few of us were featured on C-SPAN’s coverage of the event! A clip from that coverage was also featured on Fox News as well.
We had some downtime at the hotel to rest and pack, which was rejuvenating for many of us. For dinner, Dr. Roberts and Kim treated us to a great meal where we were able to enjoy each other’s company for one more night.
We are so grateful for everyone who helped make this trip possible, including Dr. Roberts and Principia as a whole. Thank you to everyone who followed along with our coverage on this blog and on social media – it was a blast to share our experience with you! Look out for our presentation to the Principia community about our findings coming later this semester!
