Young N.H. Democrats grow in stature

Threaten power of establishment Observers say trend aids Obama

A Secret Service agent held back a group of young people as the Obama motocade went past a rally yesterday in Claremont, N.H. The senator from Illinois is drawing enthusiastic backing among New Hampshire's newly active, often younger Democrats. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

MANCHESTER, N.H. - A new breed of New Hampshire Democrat - younger, more brash and more progressive - is becoming more powerful in the Granite State, threatening the longtime dominance of more traditional, establishment Democrats who helped get Bill Clinton elected in 1992 and are backing Senator Hillary Clinton this year.

New Hampshire's Democratic base had long been based in Manchester and Nashua, and Bill Clinton successfully tapped the moderate voters in those cities to score a second-place, comeback finish here in 1992. But in recent years, more liberal Democrats in the towns and along the seacoast have grown in numbers and become more active, a trend political specialists believe will benefit Senator Barack Obama of Illinois in today's primary.

"The new Democrats live in the towns. They are more progressive on social issues, cultural issues, and the environment than the old-style Democrats," said Dante Scala, a political science professor at the University of New Hampshire. While the demographic trend has been developing for decades, Scala said, the newer breed of Democrats has gotten more active in recent elections, helping in 2006 to flip control of both chambers of the state legislature to the Democrats and to elect Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter, both Democrats, to Congress.

"It used to be that to win the first district of New Hampshire, you had to be a Manchester Democrat who was moderate or conservative," Scala said. "Carol Shea-Porter put a monkey wrench into that."

Hodes - who, like Shea-Porter, has endorsed Obama - noted he himself "came from outside the party structure" in New Hampshire. "That was not a negative in New Hampshire and, in fact, it can be a positive when you come from outside the establishment," Hodes said.

Hillary Clinton has a formidable operation in Manchester and has racked up an impressive list of endorsements from such veteran Democratic activists as Debora Pignatelli, a member of the Governor's Council, and Kathy Sullivan, the former chairwoman of the state party, as well as numerous local elected officials such as Sylvia Larson, the state Senate president.

Clinton is drawing on support from a network of loyalists built during her husband's 1992 campaign, and is popular among veteran Democratic voters nostalgic for the Clinton White House years.

But Obama, while lacking the long list of institutional endorsements Clinton secured, has connected with New Hampshire's newly active, often younger Democrats, who don't believe a candidate has to have decades of experience or establishment credentials to get elected.

"Hillary's essentially been making the argument that it's her turn, which is not a terribly persuasive argument" with New Hampshire's new Democrats, said Simon Rosenberg, who was Bill Clinton's New Hampshire communications director in 1992. "Politics is about people and passion. Obama's tapped into that and understood it from the very beginning. The Clinton campaign has dramatically miscalculated the mood of the electorate."

Clinton still has the dedicated support of what local Democrats call the "Clintonistas" of the 1992 campaign but "it was a small enterprise then," said Rosenberg, who now heads the New Democratic Network and has not endorsed a candidate. "The problem [for Clinton] is, there's a lot of new people. The Democratic party has expanded."

Democrats in both camps say they have no mutual animosity, and will all rally enthusiastically around the eventual Democratic nominee. But the difference in style and attitude is apparent at campaign events.

At the Democrats' 100 Club dinner in Milford last week - a normally sedate affair attended by party stalwarts - Clinton supporters clapped politely for their candidate as she spoke to the crowd. Obama supporters, meanwhile, flooded to the front of the room when the Illinois senator arrived to speak, prompting the announcer to ask them to take their seats for safety concerns.

Clinton's rallies tend to draw an older crowd, and she often has such Democratic Party veterans as Madeleine Albright, the former secretary of state, and General Wesley Clark flanking her.

Electing Hillary Clinton would be "even better" than putting Bill Clinton back in the White House, said Meredith Wrobel, 57, as she attended a Clinton rally in Hampton. "I would like to go back to peace and prosperity" of the 1990s, Wrobel added.

Supporters at Obama rallies, meanwhile, tend to be younger and often newer to New Hampshire; he was introduced at a recent Manchester rally by 18-year-old Kimberly Ndombe, whose mother immigrated to Manchester from the Congo.

These new-style Democrats say they are not swayed by the party establishment - and they fear Clinton is too closely tied to it.

"I think Hillary has a lot of good intentions, but I think she's too ensconced in the political structure," said Bill Elliott, 53, after he attended an Obama rally in Manchester. "I think she's going to be easily swayed by conventional politics."