A Last Push Before The Primary

Today the presidential hopefuls, Democrats and Republicans both, swept through New Hampshire, spending the last few hours before Tuesday's New Hampshire Primary campaigning in towns big and small in an effort to garner a few more votes.

Some may have managed to convince a few undecided voters, others may have lost a few.

Democrat John Edwards pulled out all the stops, campaigning non-stop for 36 hours and bringing with him his own celebrities – Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon – in an effort to bolter his campaign. However a recent WMUR-TV poll shows that his standing haven't changed since after the debates Saturday night.

Fellow Democrat Bill Richardson spent the day out on New Hampshire's Seacoast area, walking the streets and visiting a number of businesses.

The rhetoric level has certainly cranked up to high levels, as have the radio and TV ads. In fact almost all of the ads airing on local television are campaign ads. Since I started watching the evening news all but 3 ads have been political ads. The only non-campaign ads I've seen on the local TV station so far have been for Bowflex, Verizon, and Pfizer. They stood out because they weren't campaign ads.

In my home the number of phone calls from the various campaigns peaked some time yesterday and they haven't leveled off as I write this at 7:50PM Monday night.

Some of the candidates are starting to sound a little desperate. Others aren't staying here for the voting, having already departed for South Carolina in order to prepare for the primary there as they see their chances for success are better there than in New Hampshire.

It's not just the candidates making their presence known. The media is here in droves. Dead tree and electronic media from other parts of the country as well as a good number of foreign media are so numerous that it's hard not to bump into them no matter where you go. It will only get worse on Tuesday.

I can't wait for Wednesday.