Perry to hold town hall forums in New Hampshire

By Shira Schoenberg, Globe Correspondent

Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry will be conducting his first two town halls in New Hampshire next weekend.

Perry, the Texas governor, entered the race late and quickly vaulted to the top of the polls. But coming off a tepid performance in Thursday’s debate, Perry must prove that he is able to campaign and connect with voters as a candidate. His main Republican rival, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, has benefited from his own previous campaign experience during his 2008 run for president.

In New Hampshire, town hall meetings, along with smaller forums like meet-and-greets, are must-do events for the candidates. Until recently, Romney was the only candidate doing multiple town hall meetings, though former Utah governor Jon Huntsman recently did his first one in the Granite State. Representative Ron Paul of Texas has done some town halls as well, and has two more planned in the next two weeks.

Perry will hold his first town hall meeting at 6 p.m. Friday at the Upper Village Town Hall in East Derry. He will then hold another town hall meeting Saturday at the One Liberty Lane Conference Center in Hampton.

The Saturday event will be the first in a series of economic-focused town halls with the presidential candidates sponsored by “We the People,” a limited-government advocacy group started by 2008 Republican congressional nominee Jennifer Horn. The We the People events aim to spotlight economic issues including spending, debt, balanced budgets, health care reform, entitlement reform, and immigration reform.

Paul will be the second presidential candidate to do a We the People Town Hall, at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 3 at Nashua Community College. Other candidates who have committed to participating in the group’s town hall meeting series between now and November include Romney, Huntsman and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.

Paul will also be doing a town hall meeting on Friday evening – the same night as Perry – at 6:30 p.m. at Thomas More College in Merrimack. That will follow a full day of campaigning for Paul, including an appearance at Politics and Eggs at the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College, a bike ride, and a speech to employees at Lincoln Financial Group.

Former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer will campaign in New Hampshire throughout the week.