Corinne Roller, a regional field director in Concord, N.H., for Hillary Clinton, spent time in the office on Christmas Eve.
(LISA POOLE FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE)
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Clint Van Wuffen stood on a mountain of dirty snow outside the entrance to the Mall of New Hampshire yesterday, a chill wind flapping the blue McCain sign he held in his hands.
"McCain! Whooo!" he and a a half-dozen other McCain campaign workers yelled, their words almost lost in the wind and the deafening traffic rushing around them. But, to their delight, three cars in a row honked. "Whoo!"
On any other Christmas Eve, Van Wuffen, 30, would be getting ready for a big family dinner at his sister's house back in Phoenix, but not this year. With the Jan. 8 primary just around the corner, Van Wuffen, like scores of campaign workers across the state, is staying in New Hampshire to squeeze in as much campaigning as possible - and to get back to work early tomorrow.
Most campaigns declared a yuletide hiatus in door-knocking and phone-calling yesterday, imposing a quiet period that will last until tomorrow morningm to avoid offending voters.
But many campaign offices continued working into the afternoon yesterday, as staff members put out yard signs, drew up assignments to election-day posts, built voter databases, and prepared for an onslaught of volunteers who would be arriving from across the country in the final two weeks of the campaign. (Most campaigns also continued advertising; according to WMUR-TV in Manchester, viewers would see a campaign ad almost every commerical break throughout Christmas Eve and Christmas Day).
But even the diehards planned to stop at some point to celebrate Christmas with fellow volunteers and staff members, to attend church, cook dinner, or take in a movie during the period when the campaigns go dark.
Theoretically, Corinne Roller, 25, a regional field director in Concord for Hillary Clinton, would have had time to make a quick visit to her family home in Charlottesville, Va. But Roller is one of three dozen or so Clinton staff members who decided to stay in New Hampshire.
"We just wanted to stay here, so we could get right back to work on Wednesday," Roller said. "I love my family, but they totally understand the importance of what's going on up here."
The campaign, she added, has come to feel like family. Local supporters stop by the Concord office, a little gray clapboard house on the south side of town, with cookies or chili for the staff. Roller, who lives in rural Hillsborough with her boyfriend, a regional field director for the campaign in Keene, planned to go to church in Portsmouth with some Clinton staff last night and then spend Christmas Day together, as well.
Other campaign workers have marshalled their families to visit them. Kristy Stuart, 29, the field director for Mitt Romney's New Hampshire campaign, persuaded her sister, Lisa Roney, 22, to fly up from South Carolina to spend Christmas with her.
"I was really bummed I couldn't go home for Christmas," she said, as she showed her sister around the Manchester office yesterday. "I totally bribed her."
"That's OK," Roney said. "It's better than being the only one with the grandparents."'
Romney's staff would have a hard time feeling lonely in New Hampshire, though. Yesterday, the campaign held a staff lunch and a secret Santa gift exchange at its Manchester headquarters, which was decorated with Christmas trees from a staff member's family's Christmas tree farm. They planned to get together for an "Orphans' Christmas" dinner at a Chinese restaurant last night.
And today, Emily Cantin, a 24-year-old member of Romney's field staff, plans to host an afternoon celebration at the apartment she shares with her brother in Manchester. Her parents, who live in Marlborough, Conn., are driving up to help serve pies, breads, and an assortment of hors d'oeuvres for about seven Romney staff members. Cantin is ready to celebrate.
"I did all my shopping online at 3 a.m.," she said with a laugh.
Many of McCain's staff made it home for a quick holiday visit. But for Van Wuffen, the full-time volunteer for the campaign who stood in the snow with fellow campaign workers outside the Mall of New Hampshire yesterday, the trip would cost too much for too short a time.
So after sign-waving and a group lunch, he planned to head back to Brentwood, where he is staying alone at the home of a McCain supporter who is away in Phoenix visiting her sister for the holidays. He said he might watch his new "Bladerunner" DVD or catch up on some sleep.
"It's kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said Van Wuffen, who works for a government consulting firm and was granted a month's leave to volunteer for McCain. "This is a candidate I feel very strongly about."
He is also busy soaking up the local culture. He said he might drive down to Boston today to take some pictures of Fenway Park for his nephews.
He sent everyone back home in Arizona a jug of maple syrup, which he had never tasted before. "It's unbelievable!" he said.
© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.
