MANCHESTER, N.H. – The day before the New Hampshire primary saw a flurry of campaign activities, as presidential candidates from both political parties readied for their last-minute push toward a strong Election Day showing. At a campaign stop at The Village Trestle tavern in Goffstown, N.H., U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., greeted about a hundred supporters and reporters during a 30-minute visit to the local establishment. Arriving after light snow began to fall, Rubio entered to a quick introduction followed by loud cheers of ‘Marco!’ from the waiting crowd.
“We talk about all the things that are going wrong in America, and we have problems,” Rubio said, contrasting his message with that of some of his fellow Republican presidential hopefuls. “But we should not confuse our government and our people. Our country is not a government. Our country is our people.”
After a largely forgettable performance during Saturday night’s Republican presidential debate, Rubio is hoping for a strong showing in Tuesday’s Republican primary election to bolster his strong third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. The latest polls show him in second or third-place behind the current Republican leader, Donald Trump.
Judy Black, a resident of the Washington, D.C.-area who was born in Durango, was on hand to see Rubio. Black and several friends came up to spend three days experiencing the primary.
“We’ve been involved in Republican Party stuff for years, and so this year we just came up to watch all the action because we think we’ve got a really great, great group of people running,” Black said. “So we wanted to come up and support them.”
She said that she arrived on Sunday and had already seen former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Bush campaign surrogate Lindsey Graham in the short time she had been in the state.
Black’s roots in Colorado, as well as her interest in politics, run deep. Her father, Walter Bergman, served as the football, basketball and baseball coach for Fort Lewis College from 1947 to 1950. When she was a little over 2 years old, her family moved to Grand Junction, where her father coached at Mesa State College for the next few decades. Her sister, Jane Norton, also served as the 46th lieutenant governor of Colorado from 2003 to 2007.
Black, who currently works in government relations, said she’s been involved in politics for a number of years. One of the memories she shared was of Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, back when he was still a teenager.
“Scott and I were in the ’76 delegation from Colorado together for Ronald Reagan, Black said. “So Scott was 19 years old, and he was the youngest delegate in the country at the Republican convention. We were ‘crazy right-wing Republicans’ in those days, because in ’76 we were delegates for Reagan against an incumbent president, Gerald Ford, who I think everybody liked, but we just wanted Ronald Reagan more. We weren’t successful that year, but we got the president elected then after that. Tipton and I still laugh about being in that delegation together.”
Asked about her current political leanings, Black said she was still unsure but was strongly considering Rubio.
“I like the message of his family and what he’s done, and I believe that that’s a great message for all Americans,” Black said. “And I watched him in the Senate where he’s been very, very strong on national defense issues. He understands what we’re up against with these foreign threats, and he’s always been good on fiscal matters.”
egraham@durangoherald.com. Edward Graham is a student at American University in Washington, D.C., and an intern for The Durango Herald. He is spending the next few days reporting on the New Hampshire presidential primary from Manchester, N.H.