In one town, opinions shift along with contest

GOFFSTOWN, N.H. -- One short week ago, Eugene Loo had no idea whom to vote for in New Hampshire's Democratic primary.

The 48-year-old trial lawyer, sitting at a table by the fire at Ollie's Restaurant, said he liked all of the candidates. He said he had a special place in his heart for Representative Richard A. Gephardt. He declared Senator John Edwards "charming, intelligent, and articulate." He liked Senator John F. Kerry, too, mostly for his service in Vietnam. But he was mystified as to why Kerry wasn't doing better in polls: "He doesn't have that charisma," Loo decided.

But yesterday, Loo said his mind was made up. Charisma or no, he will be voting for Kerry next week.

Loo said it was Carole King, not Kerry's victory in the Iowa caucuses, that had done it for him. Loo met the singer, Kerry's sister Diana, and his daughter Vanessa at a house party in Bow on Saturday night.

"I know it sounds like I'm jumping on the bandwagon, but I was convinced that night," Loo said. "They went into the specifics. I was very impressed with his family, who seemed like ordinary folks who just love their brother. And it doesn't hurt to have Carole King on your side."

All over New Hampshire, voters are firming up their opinions in this suddenly wide open race for the Democratic presidential nomination. They are being barraged with television advertisements, phone calls, and invitations to come and meet the candidates. Their mail boxes are stuffed with leaflets.

Over the last couple of weeks, opinions have shifted in Goffstown. Some of the residents who had initially favored former Vermont governor Howard Dean -- and there are many -- have been reassessing their choices, some moving towards retired General Wesley K. Clark. Analysts have said Monday night's Iowa caucus, which put Kerry and Edwards at the top of the field, will shift opinions again. Dozens of interviews over the past week revealed residents who are still casting about, not just for the person who best reflects their views, but for the one best positioned to beat President Bush in November.

Goffstown, just outside Manchester, is home to 9,000 registered voters, of which 3,500 are independent, 3,400 are Republicans, and about 2,000 are Democrats. Almost everybody, it seems, is watching the race closely. Blue-collar workers live here alongside middle-class employees of some of the Granite State's high-tech companies.

The growing, thriving town has done well during the Bush administration. Yet there are plenty of voters here who are hoping Bush will be defeated in November.

Bob Hanavan, 56, a retired manager at Verizon, said strength against Bush would be "60 percent" of his decision next week. He started out favoring Dean but has since decided he is too arrogant. Clark, he said, is too much of a "political neophyte." So he has narrowed his choices down to Edwards and Kerry. He said he liked Edwards's "very calm manner" and Kerry's experience and record of service.

Hanavan's wife, Phyllis, liked Kerry way back at the start of the campaign, but then she "waffled," considering Dean, then Clark. But she was turned off by Dean because his campaign workers' calls and mailings were so relentless, and because he seemed "like someone who wouldn't listen." So, in the past couple of weeks, she has come back to her original choice, who, she thinks, would be the best opponent against Bush.

"Kerry is articulate and intelligent," said the religious education coordinator, 56.

Thomas Buckley, a floral designer with a bumper sticker on his car that reads, "Can't Feed Em? Don't Breed Em," is going to vote Democrat this year for the first time ever, he said. "I always voted a straight Republican ticket, but Bush misrepresented the war," said Buckley, 48, behind the counter at Jacques Flower Shop. "He and Rumsfeld have lied to us and deceived us."

Buckley, an NRA member and registered independent, thinks the only Democrat who can give Bush a fight is Dean.

"He has got energy, he's got drive, he's a scrapper," Buckley said. Bush loyalists, who could be found all over Main Street last weekend, were happy to see the Democrats slugging it out, which they said would diminish the entire field for the general election. Some Republican voters saw Clark, not Dean, as the likeliest threat because of the retired general's military experience.

"If the Democrats have a hope or a prayer, it's Wes Clark, but I don't think he has a chance either," said Lee Rowe, 55, who works at the Monument Laundromat.

"I don't think George Bush has a thing to worry about. He's going to turn around and walk right back in."