Nozell, rhymes with Oh Hell

Last night Son #1 and I attended the “Lesser-Known Presidential Candidates Forum” at St. Anselm’s College in Manchester, NH. Click below if you just want to see all the photos from the event:

The requirement was participants needed to be registered and on the NH primary ballot and had not participated in any other candidate forums. In order to get on the NH ballot you need to be a a US citizen, at least 35 by time you take office, filled out the appropriate form and pay your $1000 to the state of NH.

The first hour was for the 10 Republican candidates:

* Bear Betzler
* Timothy Brewer
* Hugh Cort
* Randy Crow
* John Davis
* Christopher Hill
* Jeff Lawman
* Benjamin Linn
* Michael Meehan
* Joe Story

The second hour were for the 8 Democratic candidates, although one was a no-show:

* Ed Cowan
* Dr. Bob Greene
* John D. Haywood
* Robert B. Jordan — no show
* Edward O’Donnell, Jr
* Vermin Supreme
* Randall Terry)
* John Wolfe, Jr

All the photos I took of the event are released under a Creative Commons Attribution license — so you are welcome to use them as long as you give me a photo credit. (I won’t turn down a check if a media organization would like to send an honoria my way)

Here are my notes/scribbling/impressions from last night’s “Lesser-Known Presidential Candidates Forum” at St. Anselm’s College in Manchester, NH on 19-Dec-2011. I’m just an interested NH voter, not a journalist so don’t be surprised of my views and bias come through…

The format was 2 minutes for each candidate to make their case followed by questions from the panel –Beth LaMontagne Hall (Union Leader), Ambassador Terry Shumaker and NH State Representative Jim Splaine; Bob(?) Griffin was the moderator.

The first hour was for the 10 Republican candidates:

• Bear Betzler — missed intro; cool first name; don’t have much notes
  on him.
• Timothy Brewer — missed intro; first day in office? Talk to Jesus
  and the Afterlife; God very important to him and should be to you
  too;
• Hugh Cort — “Google Iran Holocaust”, nuclear attack on the US very
  soon by Iran (March 2012); Mexico-Venezuela-Iran connection;
• Randy Crow — References 9/11 alot; worked in retail gas sector,
  driven out by major oil companies which keep prices up and drive
  foreign policy; get tough with big oil;
• John Davis — God spoke to him to have him run, then he told his
  wife; Home builder; pro-life; constitutionalist; asked about Global
  Climate change and said hard to know if really happening and need to
  study it more.
• Christopher Hill — I saw him at some Tea Party events this year;
  raised in Bedford, NH now lives in KY; airline pilot; wants no
  income tax up to $250k afterwards increased taxes;
• Jeff Lawman — From NH, an Engineer who will bring that view to the
  whitehouse, fiscal conservative, social liberal, concerned about
  environment
• Benjamin Linn — youngest candidate born in 1973 in CA. anti-war,
  pro-life; get out of Afghanistan ASAP
• Michael Meehan — from St. Louis(?), real estate; Asked about
  gay/civil marriage position which he does not support but considers
  it a minor issue compared to problems that need to be addressed
• Joe Story — Godly, 10 commandments, christian, concerned about 10
  million illegal aliens that may be spying for our enemies; for
  Supreme Court, only appoint strict constitutionalists that don’t
  follow precedence but only from what is in the US Constitution;
  Somewhat libertarian wants to put most government owned operations
  in a ‘benefit trust’, ie: Ford, royalties from land use, etc

The second hour were for the 7 Democratic candidates, although one was
a no-show, so the seven where:

• Ed Cowan — from VT, want US to get organized and solve list of
  problems ie: nukes, ozone, population growth, energy, disparity of
  rich/poor (people and countries) and environment
• Dr. Bob Greene — PhD in Physics (w00t!); from CA; Thorium holds
  great promise for energy production; Thorium found in lots of ‘waste
  products’ like coal ash(?), etc. golf ball sized amount can generate
  enough for a person/year(?)
• John D. Haywood — from NC; wants British National Health Care-style
  system which is much loved, economical in comparison; get rid of
  Bush tax cuts; return to 1965 Johnson/Kennedy level income tax
  system;
• Edward O’Donnell, Jr — all about love, kindness and friendliness;
  no jacket, turtleneck with pumpkin & kitten (see photos); loud
  speaker; no guns (including hunting); wants non-violent foreign
  policy
• Vermin Supreme – ran in 2008 and announced same day as Hillary
  Clinton (see ); mandatory toothbrushing; gingivitis greatest threat;
  friendly fascist; a pony for everyone in the US; future is a pony
  based economy; Genius Idea: to solve dependency on foreign oil
  develop Zombie Turbines. Tie zombies to a large turbine and dangle
  human brains in front of them. They will endlessly walk around in a
  circle pulling the turbine and generate electricity; Donated a
  kidney to his mother this year. His mother was in the audience and I
  verified he really did donate a kidney. What a nice boy.
• Randall Terry — From West Virginia; only candidate to refer to the
  President as “Barack Hussein Obama”, pro-life, loves god, 52 million
  children killed; founded the repellent ‘Operation Rescue’; anti-gay;
  now running as a Democrat. Glitterbombed by Vermin Supreme.
  A little bit of #Occupy ‘mike check’ then told it was okay to come
  out of the closet and people will still love him (could have been a
  Vermin Supreme operative saying that, unclear who); See photos of
  presumed notes “Progressive Income Tax is based on jealousy,
  greed. Marxist”; we are a socialist country now;
• John Wolfe, Jr — From TN; true progressive to challenge Obama to
  address issues on the left.

Bear Betzler

Timothy Brewer

Hugh Cort

Randy Crow

John Davis

Christopher Hill

Jeff Lawman

Benjamin Linn

Michael Meehan

Joe Story

Protecting Rick Perry, originally uploaded by marcn.

This weekend Rick Perry was in Manchester.

Today Mitt Romney is in Concord speaking to a Tea Party crowd (with protesting a FreedomWorks-backed Tea Party group — talk about a photo op!).

Monday in Manchester Sarah Palin with virtually unknown Presidential Candidates Buddy Roemer and Gary Johnson will also be speaking at a Tea Party event.

Anyone interested in licensing some photos?