They have been zipping around the Granite State for months now, each trying in his own way to become a household word to voters and each searching to find the theme that will catapult a campaign down the path that leads, after many stops, to the White House.
There have been big and little bumps in the polls as each of the candidates has had his day with the media, which through some mystery creates a sense that one candidate is ahead of the others long before any votes are actually cast.
Sometimes in the process, the basics-who the candidate is and what he represents-are lost or obscured.
If for no other reason than to provide something to stick to the refrigerator door with a magnet in early preparation for Illinois` St. Patrick`s day primary, here is a quick look at the major figures in the New Hampshire election.
PATRICK JOSEPH BUCHANAN Until recently, Buchanan was a conservative television commentator and newspaper columnist. Now he is challenging President Bush in the Republican primary, running as a conservative and presenting a serious threat from the Right. His goal has been to send a message to the White House about the conservative agenda.
He is 53 years old and married to the former Shelly Ann Scarney. They live in McLean, Va.
He has a bachelor`s degree in English from Georgetown University and a master`s degree in journalism from Columbia University. He has never held elective office.
Buchanan wrote editorials at the St. Louis Globe Democrat from 1962 to 1964, then became an assistant editorial editor. He left the paper to become an executive assistant to Richard Nixon, who was then in a law firm.
Buchanan then moved to Washington where he became a White House speechwriter and special consultant, first under Nixon and then under President Gerald Ford.
He left the White House in 1975 and became a columnist and media commentator. He served as White House director of communications from 1985 to 1987 during Ronald Reagan`s administration.
Buchanan is creating thunder on the Right in a campaign that attacks Bush for breaking his ”read my lips” pledge on taxes and for abandoning the conservative agenda. The message plays particularly well in New Hampshire, where the recession may draw a significant number of protest votes against Bush.
JOSEPH ROBERT KERREY Kerrey was governor of Nebraska from 1983 to 1987 and has served in the U.S. Senate since 1989. He graduated from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln with a degree in pharmacy in 1966.
Kerrey, 48, served in the U.S. Navy from 1966 to 1969. He was awarded the Purple Heart and the Medal of Honor in May 1970 for valor during his service in Vietnam. He was leading an attack on a Viet Cong intelligence headquarters on March 14, 1969, when a grenade exploded near him. His right leg was later amputated below the knee.
As a businessman, he opened a chain of restaurants and fitness centers. He married Bev Defnall in 1974 and was divorced in 1978. He has two children, Ben, 17, and Lindsey, 15. His former wife is campaigning for him. He has occasionally dated actress Debra Winger.
Kerrey`s campaign is aimed in part at wooing back young voters who have abandoned the Democratic Party for the GOP. He always has been an outspoken politician and doesn`t hesitate to take positions on controversial issues. He was an early opponent of the Persian Gulf war, for example.
As a senator, he has pushed for health-care reforms and has become a specialist on agricultural issues.
He has called for national health care and deep cuts in the number of government agencies. Some critics have accused him of ”Japan bashing” for a TV ad in which he refered to himself as a goalie fending off Japanese imports, but Kerry denies the claim.
THOMAS RICHARD HARKIN Harkin has been one of Iowa`s U.S. senators since 1985. He represented Iowa`s 5th Congressional District in the House from 1975 to 1985. He was a U.S. Navy air transport pilot from 1962 to 1967.
He is 52. Of all the Democrats, he is by a large margin the most liberal and hopes to translate that philosophy into support from what remains of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party.
He has called for shifting some $150 billion in foreign aid and military spending to the domestic front to rebuild the nation`s infrastructure, a task that would create thousands upon thousands of jobs.
As expected, he collected the vast margin of support last week in the Iowa caucuses, more than 80 percent-and more than enough to keep him in the contest.
Harkin has been married to his wife, Ruth, for 23 years. They have two daughters, Amy 15, and Jennifer, 10. Ruth Harkin has had a successful career in law and held appointive positions in Jimmy Carter`s administration.
Harkin graduated from Iowa State University in 1962 with a degree in government and economics. His law degree is from Catholic University of America.
A compelling and sometimes passionate speaker, his campaign is constructed around his own experience, from hard times as a child in Cumming, Iowa, through his early education and political years.
He opposed the Persian Gulf war and was the key sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990.
WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON Of all of the Democrats who jumped into the 1992 campaign, Clinton was by far the best prepared and the best organized. He is a moderate Democrat with strong appeal to the conservatives in his party.
He constructed a war chest that totaled $3 million by Christmas, 1991. His long experience as Arkansas governor, his Yale Law School degree and Rhodes scholar experience, along with good looks, seemed to make him the perfect candidate.
Clinton, 46, has been married since 1975 to Hillary Rodman Clinton, one of the nation`s 100 most influential lawyers, according to the National Law Journal. They have a daughter, Chelsea, 11.
Early on, Clinton`s candidacy was well received. He used visits to his alma mater, Georgetown University, to present his vision of the nation and its future. He had been perceived as the front-runner in New Hampshire for weeks, and as most likely to collect a fat bundle of delegates in the Southern primaries.
Clinton had a well-developed platform proposal that would double federal spending on research, public works, the environment, child care, education and training. He pushed universal national health care and welfare reforms requiring able-bodied recipients to work. He wanted to cut middle-income taxes and offer investment tax credits to medium and small businesses.
But Clinton`s campaign has been sidetracked by two problems. The first involved a cabaret singer from Little Rock, Gennifer Flowers, who told a supermarket tabloid that she had had an affair with Clinton for 12 years. He denied it, but conceded there had been troubles, now resolved, in his marriage.
The second was a report from the Wall Street Journal about how he avoided military service during the Vietnam War. Clinton again was forced to go on the defensive to point out he was not a draft dodger.
The disclosures took their toll and Clinton`s poll numbers collapsed. He has been trying to revive his campaign for the last week.
PAUL EFTHEMIOS TSONGAS Another Greek Democrat from Massachusetts? This is a question Tsongas himself uses during campaign appearances, a not so subtle reference to the disaster of former Gov. Michael Dukakis` 1988 candidacy.
But Tsongas is a different story altogether. In 1983 he was diagnosed as suffering lymphoma, believed at the time to be fatal. But he fought the disease and won after undergoing experimental bone marrow replacement in 1986. He is the first to say his illness was a defining experience in his life that left him with a sense of obligation to society.
Personal history aside, Tsongas, 51, may be the most unusual Democrat in the campaign. His economics are conservative, but his social policies are liberal. His is the anti-glitz, anti-glitter campaign, fueled by his dry wit. His message is sometimes so compelling-when he is talking about his wife and children, for example-that it is easy to overlook his lack of charisma, another flaw he often uses to humor his audiences.
He is the Democrat speaking most directly to businessmen with his argument that it is impossible to be ”pro-jobs” in the United States without being pro-business.
Tsongas received his bachelor`s degree in government from Dartmouth, his law degree from Yale, and later picked up a master`s degree in public administration from Harvard. He then spent two years in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia. In 1974 he went to Congress as part of the Watergate backlash; he resigned after one term in the Senate to battle his cancer.
He and his wife, Nicola, have three daughters, Ashley, 17, Katina, 14, and Molly, 10.
EDMUND GERALD BROWN JR. Can a product of the political system successfully rebel against it? The campaign of the former California governor, only a few years ago a
multimillion dollar fundraiser as chairman of the state Democrats, is a 1992 test case. He condemns everything connected to modern politics, from the glitter of media campaigns to the accepted scandal of fundraising.
Brown, 53, always has been unconventional, but this time he has factored it into his campaign themes. Graduated income taxes should be replaced by a flat tax. The defense budget should be cut in half. A high-speed national train system should be constructed.
He makes convincing arguments for many of these proposals and has injected a dose of unpleasant reality in debates with other candidates. When they call for education reform, he notes that the problem is not in school so much as it is at home. While they call for better schools, he calls for an assault on the poverty and social problems that plague many of America`s children.
These reform themes fall right into place along side poll numbers that reflect anger about politics and politicians, labeled the ”Incumbent Party” by Brown.
He accepts no contribution of more than $100 and is counting on an astute army of volunteers, who camp out at friends` homes instead of renting hotel rooms, to carry his message to the voters.
Brown is single. Although his campaign has not caught fire in New Hampshire, he has strong recognition around the county and polls show he is viewed favorably by about 20 percent of registered voters.
Brown graduated from the University of California with a bachelor`s degree in Latin and Greek. He was in a Jesuit seminary for two years. His law degree is from Yale. He was California governor from 1975 to 1983.
