As the New Hampshire primary season comes down to its final month, Hillary and her campaign team are employing a strong push for every vote that they can reach, and a multi-layered campaign process that not only relies on Hillary’s own criss-crossing of the state for campaign events, townhalls, speeches, but also, more increasingly, a strong surrogate strategy.
ABC News: Hillary Clinton Dominating the Surrogate Game in New Hampshire
(MANCHESTER, N.H.) -- Hillary Clinton seems to have a strategy for trying to chip away at Bernie Sanders's lead in New Hampshire: Campaign every day, even when you're out of the state.
Clinton sent a battalion of high-profile supporters to the Granite State this week, including her husband, former President Bill Clinton. Minnesota Sen. Al Franken arrived Thursday, while television star Lena Dunham and U.S. soccer legend Abby Wambach will criss-cross the state Friday.
After arriving today in New Hampshire Al Franken was scheduled for four Hillary events.
Franken cracks 'em up in Dover
DOVER — Though he's been a politician for eight years, U.S. Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) has not lost the wit that made him famous as a writer and performer on "Saturday Night Live." Franken was quick with the jokes as soon as he walked through the door at Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign headquarters in Dover on Thursday.
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Franken spoke for about 15 minutes on why he supports former Secretary of State Clinton's bid for the White House. His comments were interspersed with plenty of sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek humor, all of which was greeted with warm laughter from the audience.
"I've known Hillary for 20 years, and she is the smartest, toughest, most experienced and hardest-working person in this race," Franken said. "She's my only choice for president. She will make a great president."
Franken quipped about why politicians get into politics:
"If you have a job, if you have a family, just ignore them," Franken said. "An 8-year-old child knows how to use a microwave (and) can teach a 4-year-old child how to use a microwave. And kids love it when their parents aren't home. "That's why most people go into politics, to spend less time with their family," Franken continued. "I know that because when politicians resign, they always say it's to spend more time with their families."
Then Franken amplified the need for volunteers in political campaigns:
Turning serious, Franken emphasized the importance of campaign volunteers, noting that he won his first Senate race in Minnesota in 2008 by just 312 votes. "I can't tell you what it means to the candidate to have people volunteering and working on their behalf," Franken said. "Every call matters."
Franken ended his appearance, one of four in the state, Dover, Concord, Durham and Hampton, all on one day, with a strong Hillary plug:
"I know that Hillary will get things done," Franken said. "She is a progressive, but she's a progressive that believes in getting things done."
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Bill Clinton had two events in New Hampshire, he is in Iowa today for 2 events, but is expected back in New Hampshire soon.
Among other events Abby Wambach and Lena Dunham will be speaking at a “Women for Hillary” rally in Portsmouth, NH on January 8th.
A lot of activity for Hillary all over New Hampshire over the next few days on multiple fronts.
More from the article:
Less than five weeks until the primary, University of New Hampshire political science professor Dante Scala says winning “the surrogate game” matters. “This time of year especially, the most scarce commodity available is the candidate’s time,” he told ABC News. “The next best thing is a surrogate.”
Surrogates are often asked to do the heavy lifting with particular constituencies and demographics. While few people have heard of state Senator Jeff Woodburn outside of northern New Hampshire, his support means Clinton, who’s campaigning in Los Angeles today, has an active campaign in remote northern communities, where snow and ice routinely deter candidate visits.
The Bernie Sanders campaign is downplaying the importance of surrogates. Karthik Ganapathy, Sanders’ New Hampshire communications director, talks about “the level of enthusiasm for Berne and his message" and the volunteers, as the Bernie camp can't match the big name surrogates the Hillary campaign can bring to the state.
On Sunday Hillary will be back in New Hampshire to accept the awesome, history making Planned Parenthood endorsement for the primary. Planned Parenthood has never endorsed a candidate for the primaries in their 100 year history.
Planned Parenthood to endorse Hillary Clinton
The group will make the endorsement official at what they are billing as their election kickoff event in Manchester, New Hampshire on Sunday.
This is the home stretch in both Iowa and New Hampshire. 24 days until Iowa, 31 days until New Hampshire. The polls are tied up in New Hampshire, the state is up for grabs. Hillary’s campaign is pulling out all the stops to win New Hampshire. We will know in a month how it turns out. Team Hillary is hard at work in New Hampshire, that’s for sure.