Town Hall Hampton NH

The Hampton Town Hall last night was a fun one. First of all, the lady who started the introductions was great. She had everyone sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game’ (Go Sox!), and then she was cued to introduce Senator Warren Rudman. She made the introduction, and it turned out the Senators were stuck at a red light. She filled the time wonderfully, she mentioned knowing Senator McCain as a kid, and told of how her 3-year-old granddaughter introduced Senator McCain at a house party and stole the show.

After the introductions, Senator McCain pointed out a number of veterans, then a group of kids from City Year for their service. He talked about global warming, wasteful spending, and health care. There were several passionate statements and questions from the audience. A couple of questions about immigration and English as the official language were very well handled by Senator McCain, ensuring that the borders would be secured and certified secure by the border Governors, and that learning English would be a requirement for citizenship. A young man stood up to make a passionate plea for the Senator. He had served in Iraq and mentioned that he was of Hispanic decent in reference to the previous question about immigration and English. I appreciated the Senator’s statements that he would not attack the character of his competitors, but would challenge them on their positions and their record. Towards the end a lady stood up and said that the building that we were gathered in had formerly been a school and that she was a member of the last class of students to graduate, and who knew that 50 years later she would be back here speaking to the next President of the United States.