Life on the trail with the lower tier

By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- There's a certain freedom to be written off as an also-ran in the New Hampshire primary. TV crews don't follow you around, hoping to catch you in a misstep. Political pundits don't dissect your tearful comments, trying to decide if they show strength or weakness.

But there's a fine line between liberation and anonymity, as Duncan Hunter learned.

Hunter, a GOP congressman from California, was leaving a radio interview at a downtown Manchester hotel when he was stopped by a little blonde girl. "Who are you?'' she asked.

"Duncan Hunter,'' the congressman replied.

She peered at him again. "What did you say your name was?''

"DUN-CAN HUN-ter,'' he said slowly and clearly.

The girl's family rushed over to take a picture, bringing a smile to the congressman's face.

"We LOVE you!'' the woman taking the picture gushed, then ran over to Hunter and lowered her voice. "We're voting for Rudy Giuliani,'' she whispered. "But we LOVE you!''

While Hunter -- one of the leading Iraq war hawks in the House -- left to drum up votes for his pro-war campaign, his colleague, Dennis Kucinich, passed him in the hallway with his antiwar entourage.

While Hunter favors a healthy, well-funded military policy, Kucinich supporters carry "Strength Through Peace'' signs and tout the Ohio congressman as the one candidate who will get the United States out of the war immediately.

Kucinich defended one of his rivals, Senator Hillary Clinton, as the victim of what he called a "ridiculous'' analysis of her behavior on Monday, when she began to break down as she talked about her passion for running for president.

Was she showing too-feminine weakness? Was it contrived to elicit sympathy? Was the tough senator finally showing a long-disguised human side?

Who cares? Kucinich said.

"It's a pseudo-event,'' Kucinich said of the media coverage of Clinton's display. "It presents a mythical notion of a debate as to whether she has a heart or not -- of course she does. They're all trying to make her a cartoon character. She's not. She's real,'' Kucinich said.

Voters should still reject her -- but because of her policies, not how whether she showed emotion in answering a question, Kucinich said.

"Will she get us out of Iraq? She won't. I will,'' Kucinich said.