NH revelers welcome "special guest"
A goodly number of New Hampshire's business and (mostly Democratic) political elite gathered this afternoon for a cocktail party sponsored by the Concord law firm Rath, Young and Pignatelli (usually hosted by Tom Rath, who sent his regrets because of a bad leg) and Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm.
The impressive guest list included the governor, all four members of the Congressional delegation, Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the only openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church.
The mood was jubilant in the luxe ballroom at the Willard, a historc hotel not far from the White House where the party was held. The lengthy roster of speakers included each member of the Congressional delegation, and it was a struggle to keep the bubbly crowd quiet enough to hear them.
"Look at the glitter that now surrounds New Hampshire!" Congressman Paul Hodes told the crowd.
All afternoon, rumors of a special guest proliferated. The dominant theory was that it was one of the Clintons. Bill or Hillary? No one could decide. After the governor and Congresssional delegation spoke, state Senate President Sylvia Larsen reminded everyone that it was Martin Luther King Day -- a day, parenthetically, that New Hampshire refused to celebrate until 1999 -- and she said the special guest was finally here.
Who was it? The introducer did not say.
"Please welcome... our special guest," she said.
The crowd applauded uncertainly.
A man stepped up to the microphone. He was rather short, rather bald, with a rather deep voice, and one of the very few African Americans in the room.
"Thank you very kindly, my friends," he began.
A deep, perplexed silence settled over the gathering. Who was it?
"I'm delighted to see each of you here tonight, in spite of a storm warning," he said.
People stole looks at each other. Tonight? What storm?
He told of how he was stabbed in a New York City bookstore by a deranged woman. The woman asked him, "Are you Martin Luther King? And I said, 'Yes.'"
Oohhhh.
He didn't give the whole "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech, but he hit the biggest lines: "I have seen the promised land!" he thundered. "I may not get there with you.... Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!"
The MLK impersonator's name was actually actor Craig Alan Edwards. Larsen said she invited him last-minute, after she had seen him at the Senate President's luncheon earlier.
Ann McLane Kuster, an attorney with Rath and Young, was very pleased with how it went off.
"We wanted New Hampshire to celebrate this historic occasion," she said.
